Spa GP2: Rossi leads home King for first win of 2015
Alexander Rossi took an overdue first GP2 victory of the season in the sprint race at Spa, leading home Racing Engineering teammate Jordan King.
Alexander Rossi, Racing Engineering
GP2 Series Media Service
From third on the grid, Rossi surged into the lead on the opening lap, jumping ahead of Nathanael Berthon at the start before slipping past poleman King as the Briton ran wide exiting Les Combes.
King was able to remain in close company for much of the race, but never looked like re-taking the lead, settling into second behind his more experienced teammate.
Rossi survived a late restart after a Virtual Safety Car period, caused by a spin into the gravel at Stavelot for Arthur Pic, for his first win since Abu Dhabi in 2013 and Racing Engineering's first since the end of last season.
Behind the leading duo, feature race winner Stoffel Vandoorne had gone from eighth on the grid to third after dispatching Berthon at Les Combes just after half-distance, and looked like threatening the Racing Engineering cars ahead until he suffered a ferocious lock-up at the final chicane after the VSC restart.
That gave Mitch Evans, who passed Berthon a lap after Vandoorne, the opportunity to close, and after coming close to passing the points leader on the penultimate lap, the Kiwi was able to make the move with the help of DRS on the final tour.
Vandoorne crossed the line in fourth, ahead of Artem Markelov, who held off Sergey Sirotkin in a spirited all-Russian battle for sixth before passing Berthon for fifth.
Berthon then fell prey to Sirotkin at the final chicane on the last lap to fall to seventh, with Alex Lynn overcoming Sergio Canamasas for the final point.
Julian Leal meanwhile, despite running as high as fourth early on, found himself a sitting duck along the Kemmel Straight with no working DRS, and was shuffled down to 11th by the finish.
Race results:
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
1 | Alexander Rossi | Racing Engineering | 38'26.855 |
2 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1.507 |
3 | Mitch Evans | RUSSIAN TIME | 3.225 |
4 | Stoffel Vandoorne | ART Grand Prix | 4.462 |
5 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 11.642 |
6 | Sergey Sirotkin | Rapax | 13.573 |
7 | Nathanael Berthon | Daiko Team Lazarus | 13.770 |
8 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 14.383 |
9 | Sergio Canamasas | Daiko Team Lazarus | 15.147 |
10 | Rio Haryanto | Campos Racing | 18.340 |
11 | Julian Leal | Carlin | 18.954 |
12 | Raffaele Marciello | Trident | 20.281 |
13 | Richie Stanaway | Status Grand Prix | 25.418 |
14 | Andre Negrao | Arden International | 25.548 |
15 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 25.864 |
16 | Robert Visoiu | Rapax | 27.269 |
17 | Nick Yelloly | Hilmer Motorsport | 27.986 |
18 | Gustav Malja | Trident | 29.040 |
19 | Marlon Stockinger | Status Grand Prix | 34.546 |
20 | Norman Nato | Arden International | 36.590 |
21 | Sean Gelael | Carlin | 41.816 |
Ret | Oliver Rowland | MP Motorsport | |
Ret | Arthur Pic | Campos Racing | |
Ret | Pierre Gasly | DAMS |
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