Photo: Alastair Staley/GP2 Series Media Service
Jon Lancaster has inherited a third-place finish on his GP2 return after Jolyon Palmer was penalised following the Barcelona feature race.
Palmer was adjudged to have forced Sam Bird off-track as the pair fought over third place in the closing stages of the race, resulting in Bird spinning and retiring. Stewards slapped Palmer with a 20-second penalty post-race, dropping him from third to tenth.
That gives third place to Lancaster, who was making only his third start in GP2 and returning after a year away. It completes a double podium for new team Hilmer Motorsport, as Lancaster’s team-mate Robin Frijns, also in his third GP2 race, won the race.
Bird was also given a penalty for causing an earlier collision with his former team-mate Marcus Ericsson that preceded the Swede’s retirement from the race after starting on pole position. Bird, who was classified 21st, will now start the race from the back row of the grid after a ten-place grid penalty.
He will start alongside Nathanael Berthon, who has received a similar sanction for running into the back of Sergio Canamasas and Tom Dillmann. The Frenchman would have been due to start 25th of the 26 cars even before his penalty.