GP2: King takes home Sprint Race win

10/07/2016
NEWS STORY

Jordan King delighted the local fans by winning this morning's sprint race at Silverstone from pole, looking to initially have the race under control before a brief shower on the last lap meant the Briton had to work hard to hold on for victory from a fast charging Luca Ghiotto and Oliver Rowland.

The race opened under heavy clouds but on a dry track, and when the lights went out King did enough off the line to convert pole into the lead at Turn one, but fellow front row starter Norman Nato was unable to match his teammate, losing out to Nobuharu Matsushita and Rowland into Turn one ahead of Ghiotto, Mitch Evans, Antonio Giovinazzi and Raffaele Marciello, while yesterday's winner Pierre Gasly lost ground and dropped back to P12 by the end of the lap.

While King stormed off into the distance Ghiotto was setting the pace, and behind him the PREMA Racing teammates were also on a charge: by lap six Gasly had gained two places and Giovinazzi dispensed with Evans after a brief duel. Nato was unable to match his teammate's pace: the Frenchman lost out to Rowland and Ghiotto in consecutive laps, and the Italian's spectacular run saw him dislodge the Briton from a potential podium by lap 8. Ghiotto was clearly faster than everyone on track, and within two laps he dispatched Matsushita and was heading after the leader.

The Italian threw everything at King, who held on by his fingernails ahead of his local fans: with 4 laps remaining Ghiotto's times were increasing, and it looked like the Manor Development Driver had done enough to see of his rival. But as the race drew to a close the conditions worsened, causing chaos: Matsushita ran deep at Brooklands to allow Rowland through, Nato ran into the gravel and retirement, and Evans lost time (and places) to his pursuers.

Back at the front Ghiotto could sense blood and he pounced: the Italian scooped up all the seconds he lost and was all over the rear of King for the final sector, but the Briton hung on to win his local race by just 0.5s from a bitterly disappointed Ghiotto. Rowland repeated his countryman's efforts by denying Giovinazzi a podium by just one tenth, while Matsushita came home behind the pair in P5. Marciello brought home more points in sixth, while Gasly capped a solid recovery to finish in the points ahead of 8th placed Marvin Kirchhofer. Sergio Canamasas and Nicholas Latifi completed the Top ten.

1. Jordan King Racing Engineering
2. Luca Ghiotto Trident
3. Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport
4. Antonio Giovinazzi PREMA Racing
5. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix
6. Raffaele Marciello RUSSIAN TIME
7. Pierre Gasly PREMA Racing
8. Marvin Kirchhofer Carlin
9. Sergio Canamasas Carlin
10. Nicholas Latifi DAMS
11. Arthur Pic Rapax
12. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME
13. Mitch Evans Pertamina Campos Racing
14. Alex Lynn DAMS
15. Nabil Jeffri Arden International
16. Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport
17. Jimmy Eriksson Arden International
18. Sean Gelael Pertamina Campos Racing
19. Gustav Malja Rapax
20. Philo Paz Armand Trident
21. Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix
22. Norman Nato Racing Engineering

Fastest Lap: Luca Ghiotto (Trident) 1:44.199 (lap 3)

Drivers Standings after Britain (Round 5)

Pos Name Nat Team Points
1 Rowland GBR MP Motorsport 79
2 Giovinazzi ITA Prema Racing 78
3 Gasly FRA Prema Racing 74
4 Marciello ITA Russian Time 72
5 Evans NZL Pertamina Campos Racing 70
6 Nato FRA Racing Engineering 65
7 King GBR Racing Engineering 64
8 Markelov RUS Russian Time 55
9 Lynn GBR DAMS 51
10 Matsushita JPN ART Grand Prix 46
11 Sirotkin RUS ART Grand Prix 40
12 Ghiotto ITA Trident 38
13 Gelael INO Pertamina Campos Racing 24
14 Latifi CAN DAMS 21
15 Kirchhofer GER Carlin 19
16 Canamasas GBR Carlin 14
17 Eriksson SWE Arden International 10
18 de Jong NED MP Motorsport 6
19 Pic FRA Rapax 4
20 Malja SWE Rapax 3
21 Jeffri MAS Arden International 2

Team standings after Britain (Round 5)

Pos Team Points
1 Prema Racing 152
2 Racing Engineering 129
3 Russian Time 127
4 Pertamina Campos Racing 94
5 ART Grand Prix 86
6 MP Motorsport 85
7 DAMS 72
8 Trident 38
9 Carlin 33
10 Arden International 12
11 Rapax 7

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Published: 10/07/2016
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