GP2 Hot News

Palmer wins GP2 Sprint race

Palmer beats Trummer and Leal in a close finish

Jolyon Palmer has topped a dominant weekend in Bahrain with victory in this morning’s sprint race: the win, along with pole position, a podium and fastest lap yesterday allowed the Briton to head home with the lead in the 2014 GP2 Series championship after standing on the top step between Simon Trummer and Julian Leal.

The win was set up at the start: Felipe Nasr had a poor start from pole position while Palmer had a brilliant one, slotting in behind front row starter Trummer into turn one from P6, with Leal following him to push up from P7 to P3 and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs a third impressive starter to move up behind them, and ahead of Nasr, from P10 on the grid.

With temperatures even higher than yesterday’s feature race, tire preservation was going to be key: the first lap was the main opportunity for bravery and Palmer took full advantage, lining himself up behind Trummer to get a tow down the main straight, slicing inside and through for the lead at turn one, a move echoed by Stephane Richelmi on Daniel de Jong for P8 behind them as everyone watched their tires carefully.

Simon Trummer (Left), Julian Leal (Right), Jolyon Palmer (Center)

It wasn’t until the closing laps that the drivers were let loose once again: Trummer and Leal threw everything they had at Palmer but the Englishman was up to the challenge, holding on for a strong victory and the points lead, while behind them was chaos. Nasr and Quaife-Hobbs swapped positions a few times before the Brazilian finally made P4 his own with 3 laps remaining, Richelmi and Arthur Pic came together before the Monegasque blew through, later taking the Briton for P5, while the Frenchman lost out in a last lap fight to Mitch Evans and Rene Binder for a points finish.

With Stoffel Vandoorne having a torrid race which resulted in an unplanned pit stop, Palmer took a strong lead in the championship, 38 points to Leal’s 28, with the Belgian stuck on 25 points ahead of Trummer on 18, with Nasr and Stefano Coletti on 12 as the teams turn their focus towards the next round in Barcelona.

Sakhir – Sprint Race

POS NO DRIVERS TEAMS LAPS GAP INT. BEST LAP
1 7 J. Palmer DAMS 23 0.000 0.000 1:45.636 4
2 15 S. Trummer Rapax 23 0.809 0.000 1:45.756 4
3 4 J. Leal Carlin 23 1.430 0.621 1:45.948 4
4 3 F. Nasr Carlin 23 8.719 7.289 1:46.467 2
5 8 S. Richelmi DAMS 23 16.416 7.697 1:45.781 3
6 14 A. Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 23 17.680 1.264 1:46.148 5
7 1 M. Evans RT RUSSIAN TIME 23 18.012 0.332 1:46.159 3
8 16 R. Binder Arden International 23 19.791 1.779 1:46.694 5
9 26 A. Pic Campos Racing 23 19.977 0.186 1:46.592 4
10 2 A. Markelov RT RUSSIAN TIME 23 20.678 0.701 1:45.776 6
11 20 D. De Jong MP Motorsport 23 21.086 0.408 1:46.559 4
12 9 T. Izawa ART Grand Prix 23 21.713 0.627 1:46.634 3
13 11 D. Abt Hilmer Motorsport 23 29.171 7.458 1:46.923 5
14 23 J. Cecotto Trident 23 33.500 4.329 1:46.878 5
15 21 J. Lancaster MP Motorsport 23 34.017 0.517 1:46.925 5
16 18 R. Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing 23 35.778 1.761 1:46.733 4
17 24 N. Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 23 38.028 2.250 1:46.744 3
18 17 A. Negrao Arden International 23 38.524 0.496 1:47.093 5
19 27 K. Sato Campos Racing 23 39.439 0.915 1:47.125 4
20 12 F. Regalia Hilmer Motorsport 23 44.065 4.626 1:47.335 4
21 22 A. Jefferies Trident 23 48.583 4.518 1:46.895 4
22 10 S. Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 23 49.324 0.741 1:45.696 5
23 6 S. Coletti Racing Engineering 23 80.944 31.620 1:45.753 3
24 5 R. Marciello Racing Engineering 22 1 LAP 1 LAP 1:45.921 15
25 19 A. Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 22 1 LAP 21.456 1:45.344 4
DNF 25 C. Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus 16 DNF N/A 1:46.649 3

Fastest Lap: Alexander Rossi (EQ8 Caterham Racing) – 145.344: on lap 4