Bird flies to Monaco win after first lap pile-up

Photo: Andrew Ferraro/GP2 Series Media Service

Sam Bird?took his third career victory in GP2, cruising to the chequered flag at Monte Carlo after a first corner crash eliminated a good number of contenders.

Having started in third, Bird found himself involved in the first lap pile-up, triggered when poleman Johnny Cecotto outbraked himself as he diced with Fabio Leimer for second place, with Mitch Evans having got the jump on his Arden team-mate Cecotto. A huge number of drivers found themselves stuck behind stationary cars, which saw a red flag, stopping the race for around 40 minutes. Bird himself had his rear wing removed by?Kevin Ceccon, but both were able to fix the damage before the restart.

With nine cars unable to take part in the subsequent restart, it was GP3 champion Evans who led at the green flag. He managed to hold Bird back until his mandatory stop, which came earlier than the Brit’s visit to the pits and cost him the lead. Likewise, Ceccon also managed to jump the Kiwi during the stops.

As such, Bird was the race winner, ahead of Ceccon and Evans. Felipe Nasr and James Calado were fourth and fifth respectively, finishing ahead of championship leader Stefano Coletti. Rene Binder took seventh, leaving his stop much later than the rest.

Having started in last, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs overtook Stephane Richelmi in the closing stages of the race to take reverse-grid pole. Daniel de Jong was tenth, scoring his first point in the series.

Race results