Sochi GP2: Vandoorne crowned champion; Stanaway wins behind safety car
McLaren junior Stoffel Vandoorne became the 2015 GP2 champion after finishing fourth in the Sochi sprint race, which saw Richie Stanaway hold off Rio Haryanto to take his second win in the category.










Having made similar getaways off the line, front row starters Arthur Pic and Stanaway were side-by-side with Stanaway not giving up the inside line of Turn 1, which earned him the lead.
Committing to the outside line of Turn 2, Pic was unable to take the corner and allowed Campos teammate Rio Haryanto to sneak past.
Two separate incidents at the chicane brought out the safety car, when Marlon Stockinger’s car got stranded at the chicane with Rene Binder on the rear of his car.
Dean Stoneman retired at the same spot as he was hit by Sergey Sirotkin, the Russian turning the debutant, pitting with front wing damage and later on receiving a 10-second time penalty.
After the restart, the duo of Stanaway and Haryanto pulled away from Pic, who had to defend from Pierre Gasly.
The DAMS driver made an overtaking attempt on lap 5 only to run wide and lose two spots to Raffaele Marciello and Stoffel Vandoorne but not letting seventh-placed Alexander Rossi through.
It was then Marciello all over Pic and, although his first move proved to be unsuccessful, another one later on saw him passing the Frenchman with Vandoorne quickly finding his way past as well to start chasing Marciello for the final podium spot.
Following a fastest lap, he started to put massive pressure on the Ferrari junior but the Italian withstood the pressure and soon closed the gap behind Haryanto, who had a couple of slow laps.
However, Marciello was still forced to defend from Vandoorne as the Belgian continued to attack, allowing Haryanto to pull away once again.
Following 19 laps in the lead, Stanaway started to lose pace, and Haryanto was all over him for the final two laps.
Haryanto claimed the lead just as the safety car was deployed due to a massive crash for Johnny Cecotto, but Stanaway took the position back.
With no more laps left, Stanaway brought the car home to claim his second GP2 victory with Haryanto and Marciello completing the podium.
Vandoorne had to settle for fourth followed by Gasly, whose race is under investigation for overtaking Marciello behind the first safety car and Rossi, who had to keep Nobuharu Matsushita at bay.
Pic ended up eighth after missing a turn while running fifth as the top 10 was completed by Mitch Evans and Norman Nato.
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time/Delay |
1 | Richie Stanaway | Status Grand Prix | 40'30.089 |
2 | Rio Haryanto | Campos Racing | 0.579 |
3 | Raffaele Marciello | Trident | 1.293 |
4 | Stoffel Vandoorne | ART Grand Prix | 2.045 |
5 | Pierre Gasly | DAMS | 2.459 |
6 | Alexander Rossi | Russian Time | 4.498 |
7 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 4.780 |
8 | Arthur Pic | Campos Racing | 5.187 |
9 | Mitch Evans | Russian Time | 5.390 |
10 | Norman Nato | Arden International | 5.796 |
11 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 6.923 |
12 | Andre Negrao | Arden International | 7.696 |
13 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 7.825 |
14 | Sergio Canamasas | Daiko Team Lazarus | 10.927 |
15 | Nicholas Latifi | MP Motorsport | 11.954 |
16 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 12.218 |
17 | Dean Stoneman | Carlin | 13.749 |
18 | Robert Visoiu | Rapax | 17.343 |
19 | Nathanael Berthon | Daiko Team Lazarus | 19.467 |
20 | Sergey Sirotkin | Rapax | 21.278 |
21 | Sean Gelael | Carlin | 1 Lap |
22 | Johnny Cecotto | Trident | 2 Laps |
Ret | Rene Binder | MP Motorsport | |
Ret | Marlon Stockinger | Status Grand Prix |

Previous article
Alexander Rossi and Racing Engineering win a shortened Feature Race at Sochi today
Next article
Honda protege Matsushita targets F1 within three years

About this article
Series | FIA F2 |
Event | Sochi |
Location | Sochi Autodrom |
Drivers | Richie Stanaway , Stoffel Vandoorne |
Author | David Gruz |
Sochi GP2: Vandoorne crowned champion; Stanaway wins behind safety car
Trending
F1’s feeder series champions – hits and misses
#ThinkingForward with Bruno Michel
Remembering Anthoine Hubert
Ranked! Carlin's greatest F1 graduates
Carlin has helped guide enough drivers to Formula 1 to fill out an entire grid, plus a handful of reserves, to create a remarkable alumni list. With Yuki Tsunoda set to join that group, Motorsport.com has ranked its graduates to grace the grand prix scene...
How Mick Schumacher earned his Haas F1 chance
Michael Schumacher may have won seven Formula 1 titles, but he didn't even compete for a crown at the second tier. Son Mick put that right in 2020, and proved to Ferrari that he was deserving of a shot at motorsport's elite category in 2021…
How Aitken’s fortunes turned around for his shock F1 chance
As a consequence of George Russell's step up to Mercedes to cover for the COVID-positive Lewis Hamilton, Jack Aitken will make his Formula 1 debut for Williams at the Sakhir Grand Prix. Long on F1's peripheries, Aitken finally has a chance to shine.
How F1's foundation has responded to the coronavirus threat
While Formula 1 felt the public brunt of the coronavirus pandemic, the virus also put the Formula 2 and Formula 3 categories on hiatus. But their roles in feeding F1 with drivers meant their survival was crucial to their parent series' long-term future
The year Leclerc fully revealed his star status
In the latest feature in our series looking back on the 2010s, we revisit Charles Leclerc's sensational Formula 2 season - where he strode among on-track highs and lows, as well as tragedy away from motorsport, to earn a place on the Formula 1 grid
From Formula 1 exiles to part of the family
It wasn't long ago F2 drivers couldn't even get passes to the F1 paddock. Now, as Ross Brawn and Bruno Michel explain, attitudes are totally different
How Schumacher is really doing in Formula 2
Mick Schumacher's first victory in Formula 2 ignited a media frenzy, but how has Schumacher handled the pressure, and has he shown Formula 1 potential? Here's the story of his season to date
Can F2's underrated star 'do an Albon'?
There's a driver on the 2019 Formula 2 grid that has shown plenty of promise over the years, but is still a step away from making it to the top level. But one current F1 rookie's journey to grand prix racing has given this underrated driver hope.