GP2: Nato takes lights to flag sprint win

04/09/2016
NEWS STORY

Norman Nato dominated this morning's Sprint Race in Monza, grabbing the lead with a storming start before building a lead which would not be touched for his second win of the season ahead of PREMA teammates Pierre Gasly and Antonio Giovinazzi.

When the lights went out poleman Mitch Evans had a poor getaway while Jordan King looked to have claimed the lead from P2, but his Racing Engineering teammate had other ideas: Nato eased up the inside into Turn 1 to steal the top spot, while behind them Luca Ghiotto was squeezed between Evans and a fast starting Gasly, with the Red Bull tester nabbing P3 ahead of his rivals.

The field headed for Della Roggia together, and it was soon clear that they were too close: Oliver Rowland tapped Ghiotto into a spin and retirement (picking up a 10 second penalty for the move), with Gustav Malja similarly pushing Evans out of the race (and picking up the same penalty) before also knocking an element off Giovinazzi's front wing as he looked to get away again, prompting a brief VSC period to remove the stricken cars.

When the race ran live again on lap 2 the order at the front was Nato from King, Gasly, Malja, Giovinazzi and Nobuharu Matsushita, with the Italian quickly taking revenge by claiming the Swede's scalp on lap 5. The PREMA pair were on their usual hot pace as Gasly hunted down King for lap after lap before striking on lap 9: the Frenchman went outside into Turn 1 to be inside for the chicane exit, before running side by side all the way to Della Roggia for the inside line and P2.

Further back Markelov was repeating his weekend long speed, making short work of mugging Matsushita for P6 and looking for more, as King slowly fell back into his rivals clutches: Giovinazzi eventually stole his podium on lap 17 at Turn 1. Malja was pushing the Briton all round the track, finally getting side by side with him up to Della Roggia on the final lap before cutting the corner, handing a run to the Russian. Up front Nato, Gasly and Giovinazzi ran their own pace to fill the podium, while King just denied P4 to Markelov despite a lunge at the line. Malja's time penalty promoted Alex Lynn to 6th after mugging Matsushita on the line, while Nicholas Latifi grabbed the final point of the race.

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

Fastest Lap: Artem Markelov (RUSSIAN TIME) 1:33.727 (Lap 5)

Not Classified

Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix
Mitch Evans Pertamina Campos Racing
Luca Ghiotto Trident

Drivers Standings after Italy

Pos Name Nat Team Points
1 Gasly FRA Prema Racing 174
2 Giovinazzi ITA Prema Racing 164
3 Marciello ITA Russian Time 138
4 Sirotkin RUS ART Grand Prix 115
5 King GBR Racing Engineering 112
6 Nato FRA Racing Engineering 107
7 Rowland GBR MP Motorsport 106
8 Lynn GBR DAMS 91
9 Ghiotto ITA Trident 90
10 Markelov RUS Russian Time 86
11 Evans NZL Pertamina Campos Racing 81
12 Matsushita JPN ART Grand Prix 60
13 Malja SWE Rapax 43
14 Pic FRA Rapax 36
15 Gelael INO Pertamina Campos Racing 24
16 Latifi CAN DAMS 22
17 Kirchhofer GER Carlin 20
18 Canamasas GBR Carlin 16
19 Eriksson SWE Arden International 10
20 de Jong NED MP Motorsport 6
21 Jeffri MAS Arden International 2

Team standings after Italy

Pos Team Points
1 Prema Racing 338
2 Russian Time 224
3 Racing Engineering 219
4 ART Grand Prix 175
5 DAMS 113
6 MP Motorsport 112
7 Pertamina Campos Racing 105
8 Trident 90
9 Rapax 79
10 Carlin 36
11 Arden International 12

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Published: 04/09/2016
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