Stanaway and Status take maiden GP2 win on streets of Monaco

May 23, 2015
2 min read

Richie Stanaway sees the chequered flag first in Monaco’s Sprint Race taking his maiden GP2 win, followed by Raffaele Marciello and Sergey Sirotkin on second and third position. After being classified 8th in yesterday’s Race 1, Marciello (Trident) started the second race from reverse pole ahead of Stanaway (Status Grand Prix), Julián Leal (Carlin), Sirotkin (Rapax) and Arthur Pic (Campos Racing) on the first three rows of the grid. Nobuharu Matsushita (ART Grand Prix) was found guilty for a collision with Daniël De Jong (MP Motorsport) in the Feature Race and handed a grid penalty. The Japanese started today’s race from pit lane. On the way to the starting grid, Mitch Evans’ Russian Time car stopped due to an electrical problem. Like in Barcelona, the Kiwi was not able to attend the Sprint Race. After stalling on the pre-grid, Marco Sørensen was able to get going with the help of his Carlin mechanics but received a 10 seconds stop and go penalty during the race for his crew working on the car less than 15 seconds before the start of the formation lap. The Dane finished the race on P20. A poor start from Marciello let Stanaway jump on to the lead immediately, while Leal got caught by Sirotkin and Sergio Canamasas (MP Motorsport) moving up to P5 having started 7th. In the first lap Norman Nato (Arden International) forced Rio Haryanto (Campos Racing) into the barriers at the hairpin, causing the only virtual safety car period of the race. The Indonesian retired from the race while Nato received a 10 seconds time penalty following an investigation by the stewards and finished the race last. The second driver retiring in the first lap was Zoël Amberg (Lazarus). In lap 7 Canamasas overtook Leal for P4 with another clean and brave move, as seen in yesterday’s Race 1 where he finished 3rd. Except for an overtake by Artem Markelov (Russian Time) on Nathanaël Berthon (Lazarus) in the last lap of the race, this was the only move to be enjoyed after the start. Stanaway lead Marciello and Sirotkin masterfully over the whole race distance, when farer in the back Pierre Gasly (DAMS) and Jordan King (Racing Engineering) collided at the chicane fighting for P10. The Brit got airborne but confirmed being "okay" over team radio directly after the crash while Gasly was able to continue despite the impact and finished 10th. In the end GP3 graduate Richie Stanaway brought home as well his personal, as his team's maiden GP2 win with a 2 seconds gap over Raffaele Marciello, while fellow rookie Sergey Sirotkin celebrated his first ever GP2 podium finish. Sergio Canamasas crossed the finish line 4th ahead of Leal, Pic and Alexander Rossi on P5 to P7. Championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne (ART Grand Prix) hold his 8th starting position from start to finish, setting the fastest lap of the top 10 drivers in lap 11 which secured him two extra points for the championship standings. The Belgian extended his overall lead to 114 championship points over Rossi with 70, Haryanto with 49 and Evans with 28 points following Round 3 of the 2015's GP2 Season.