Home Formula 2 Sirotkin heads GP2 practice at Spielberg

Sirotkin heads GP2 practice at Spielberg

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
Photo: Sam Bloxham / GP2 Media Service

Photo: Sam Bloxham / GP2 Media Service

Rapax driver Sergey Sirotkin topped the practice session for the championship’s round four at Spielberg.

The Russian became the only driver to dip below 1:15s, doing so with almost half the session to spare.

Usual frontrunners Alex Lynn and Stoffel Vandoorne were among the early pacesetters, the latter beating the 2014 pole time with half an hour to go.

The Belgian would then be dethroned by Russian Time’s Mitch Evans, before the Kiwi himself yielded the top spot to Sirotkin for the session’s final lead change.

An expected run of late flying laps was interrupted when Red Bull protege Pierre Gasly, running sixth at the time, stopped on-track with 11 minutes remaining, bringing out the red flag.

None of the drivers in the top three would improve after the restart and Sirotkin ended up leading Evans and Vandoorne by three tenths.

Alexander Rossi was among the few to move up in the final minutes, going from 13th to fourth as he demoted Lynn and Ferrari junior Raffaele Marciello to fifth and sixth respectively.

Gasly was classified in seventh, ahead of Campos duo Rio Haryanto and Arthur Pic, with Nick Yelloly rounding out the top ten.

An apparent contract dispute with Sergio Canamasas saw MP field only one car for Daniel de Jong, who brought it home in 15th. It is currently unclear whether Canamasas will return to the cockpit for qualifying.

Session results
Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 1:14.880 26
2 Mitch Evans Russian Time 1:15.201 0.321 21
3 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:15.223 0.343 23
4 Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1:15.272 0.392 17
5 Alex Lynn DAMS 1:15.279 0.399 24
6 Raffaele Marciello Trident 1:15.407 0.527 22
7 Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:15.503 0.623 19
8 Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 1:15.568 0.688 23
9 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:15.569 0.689 21
10 Nick Yelloly Hilmer Motorsport 1:15.678 0.798 23
11 Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:15.692 0.812 21
12 Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:15.701 0.821 23
13 Rene Binder Trident 1:15.710 0.830 24
14 Andre Negrao Arden International 1:15.736 0.856 22
15 Daniel de Jong MP Motorsport 1:15.817 0.937 23
16 Robert Visoiu Rapax 1:15.971 1.091 25
17 Marco Sorensen Carlin 1:16.069 1.189 25
18 Norman Nato Arden International 1:16.073 1.193 23
19 Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:16.099 1.219 24
20 Julian Leal Carlin 1:16.236 1.356 22
21 Zoel Amberg Daiko Team Lazarus 1:16.343 1.463 22
22 Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1:16.422 1.542 22
23 Nathanael Berthon Daiko Team Lazarus 1:16.582 1.702 13
24 Artem Markelov Russian Time 1:16.701 1.821 20
25 Simon Trummer Hilmer Motorsport 1:16.878 1.998 20