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Hungary GP2: Matsushita beats Vandoorne for maiden win

Honda protégé Nobuharu Matsushita beat his ART teammate Stoffel Vandoorne to take a maiden GP2 victory in the sprint race at the Hungaroring.

Nobuharu Matsushita, ART Grand Prix

Nobuharu Matsushita, ART Grand Prix

XPB Images

Stoffel Vandoorne, ART Grand Prix
Third place Nobuharu Matsushita, ART Grand Prix
Arthur Pic, Campos Racing, leads Stoffel Vandoorne, ART Grand Prix, Jordan King, Racing Engineering & Sergey Sirotkin, Rapax
Nobuharu Matsushita, ART Grand Prix
Stoffel Vandoorne, ART Grand Prix
Sergey Sirotkin, Rapax

Starting from reverse grid pole, Matsushita made a clean getaway at the start to lead the pack, as runaway points leader Vandoorne went from fourth to second behind his teammate.

It seemed only a matter of time before the Belgian would seize the lead initially, coming close to passing Matsushita at Turn 1 on the third lap, but his pace thereafter proved inconsistent.

That allowed Matsushita to build a comfortable lead out front, escaping to the tune of four seconds after 10 laps. Vandoorne was subsequently able to close the gap to under two seconds, only to fade once more and fall into the clutches of Sergey Sirotkin in the closing stages.

The Russian driver, who had vaulted from sixth on the grid to third on the opening tour, came close to a pass on Vandoorne at the first corner on the final lap – but couldn’t complete the move, and was forced to settle for third behind the ART duo.

Raffaele Marciello, after a poor getaway from second on the grid, held on to fourth throughout, never able to challenge Sirotkin after being passed at Turn 2, with Rio Haryanto holding station in fifth to bank more solid points.

Pierre Gasly ran sixth for much of the race, but suffered severe tyre degradation in the closing stages, allowing Norman Nato to come through to claim sixth and Robert Visoiu seventh.

Gasly claimed the final point in eighth, one place ahead of DAMS teammate and feature race winner Alex Lynn, with Arthur Pic completing the top 10.

Both Racing Engineering drivers suffered badly with their tyres, Jordan King dropping from seventh to 12th in the latter stages and Alexander Rossi having to pit for fresh rubber en route to a lowly 19th.

Race results:

Pos. Driver Team Time/Gap
Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 43'43.229
Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1.961
Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 2.560
Raffaele Marciello Trident 16.243
Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 17.821
Norman Nato Arden International 18.899
Robert Visoiu Rapax 19.605
Pierre Gasly DAMS 24.504
Alex Lynn DAMS 29.572
10  Arthur Pic Campos Racing 30.380
11  Nathanael Berthon Daiko Team Lazarus 39.819
12  Jordan King Racing Engineering 43.666
13  Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 46.223
14  Nicholas Latifi MP Motorsport 47.244
15  Julian Leal Carlin 47.869
16  Sergio Canamasas Hilmer Motorsport 50.050
17  Nick Yelloly Hilmer Motorsport 51.211
18  Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1'00.570
19  Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1'04.855
20  Sean Gelael Carlin 1'07.304
21  Andre Negrao Arden International 1'10.407
22  Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1'18.968
23  Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1 Lap 
24  Rene Binder Trident 1 Lap 
Ret Daniel de Jong MP Motorsport

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