The 2016 Spa-Francorchamps GP2 Series round was a GP2 Series motor race held on 27 and 28 August 2016 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. It was the eighth round of the 2016 GP2 Series. The race weekend supported the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix.
Background Sergio Canamasas announced his return to Carlin for the round, replacing René Binder
Report Qualifying Antonio Giovinazzi led a Prema Racing 1-2 in qualifying, once again showcasing Prema's run of dominance in GP2 as of late. Gustav Malja proved the surprise candidate for third, albeit half a second adrift of Giovinazzi.
Driver Team Time Gap 1 20 Antonio Giovinazzi Prema Racing 1:56.607 – 1 2 21 Pierre Gasly Prema Racing 1:56.768 +0.161 2 3 11 Gustav Malja Rapax 1:57.124 +0.517 3 4 3 Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1:57.211 +0.604 4 5 4 Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:57.411 +0.804 5 6 12 Arthur Pic Rapax 1:57.462 +0.855 6 7 9 Raffaele Marciello Russian Time 1:57.512 +0.905 7 8 5 Alex Lynn DAMS 1:57.658 +1.051 8 9 1 Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:57.665 +1.058 9 10 19 Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 1:57.750 +1.143 10 11 6 Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1:57.768 +1.161 11 12 10 Artem Markelov Russian Time 1:57.906 +1.299 12 13 2 Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 1:57.927 +1.320 13 14 15 Luca Ghiotto Trident 1:57.964 +1.357 14 15 22 Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 1:57.987 +1.380 15 16 18 Sergio Canamasas Carlin 1:58.165 +1.558 16 17 8 Sean Gelael Campos Racing 1:58.252 +1.645 17 18 23 Daniel de Jong MP Motorsport 1:58.342 +1.735 18 19 7 Mitch Evans Campos Racing 1:58.386 +1.779 19 20 25 Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 1:58.674 +2.067 20 21 24 Nabil Jeffri Arden International 1:59.292 +2.685 22 22 14 Philo Paz Armand Trident 1:59.577 +2.970 21 Source:
Notes 1. – Jeffri was given a grid penalty from the previous round in Hockenheim, after having been deemed to have caused a collision.
Feature Race Pierre Gasly took another win with a dominant performance and with rival Sergey Sirotkin absent from the podium, he stretched his lead in the standings. Brits Jordan King and Alex Lynn took second and third respectively, comfortably ahead of the Russian Time pair of Raffaele Marciello and Artem Markelov
Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 21 Pierre Gasly Prema Racing 25 53:00.853 2 25 2 4 Jordan King Racing Engineering 25 +11.262 5 18 3 5 Alex Lynn DAMS 25 +15.519 8 15 4 9 Raffaele Marciello Russian Time 25 +19.163 7 12 5 10 Artem Markelov Russian Time 25 +20.723 12 10 (2) 6 20 Antonio Giovinazzi Prema Racing 25 +24.616 1 8 (4) 7 15 Luca Ghiotto Trident 25 +28.703 14 6 8 11 Gustav Malja Rapax 25 +32.404 3 4 9 2 Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 25 +35.778 13 2 10 22 Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 25 +36.489 15 1 11 1 Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 25 +36.620 9 12 18 Sergio Canamasas Carlin 25 +36.819 16 13 6 Nicholas Latifi DAMS 25 +41.909 11 14 12 Arthur Pic Rapax 25 +46.297 6 15 25 Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 25 +47.842 20 16 7 Mitch Evans Campos Racing 25 +51.263 19 17 23 Daniel de Jong MP Motorsport 25 +59.821 18 18 8 Sean Gelael Campos Racing 25 +1:10.120 17 19 24 Nabil Jeffri Arden International 25 +1:11.915 22 20 14 Philo Paz Armand Trident 25 +1:35.380 21 Ret 3 Norman Nato Racing Engineering 18 Collision damage 4 Ret 19 Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 1 Collision damage 10 Fastest lap: Artem Markelov (Russian Time) – 2:01.187 (on lap 24) Source:
Sprint Race Antonio Giovinazzi took the sprint race win to complete a dominant weekend for the Prema Racing outfit. Gustav Malja finished in second to record his best finish in GP2 and Luca Ghiotto achieved third for the Trident team.
Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 20 Antonio Giovinazzi Prema Racing 18 36:48.422 3 15 (2) 2 11 Gustav Malja Rapax 18 +2.359 1 12 3 15 Luca Ghiotto Trident 18 +3.921 2 10 4 21 Pierre Gasly Prema Racing 18 +4.479 8 8 5 9 Raffaele Marciello Russian Time 18 +6.634 5 6 6 22 Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 18 +13.133 10 4 7 18 Sergio Canamasas Carlin 18 +16.274 12 2 8 3 Norman Nato Racing Engineering 18 +17.011 21 1 9 6 Nicholas Latifi DAMS 18 +18.821 13 10 5 Alex Lynn DAMS 18 +19.045 6 11 1 Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 18 +20.170 11 12 4 Jordan King Racing Engineering 18 +20.458 7 13 7 Mitch Evans Campos Racing 18 +20.713 16 14 19 Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 18 +24.657 22 15 8 Sean Gelael Campos Racing 18 +34.203 18 16 2 Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 18 +35.557 9 17 23 Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport 18 +35.989 17 18 24 Nabil Jeffri Arden International 18 +41.645 19 19 14 Philo Paz Armand Trident 18 +43.500 20 20 25 Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 18 +1:36.962 15 21 12 Arthur Pic Rapax 17 +1 Lap 14 NC 10 Artem Markelov Russian Time 17 Collision 4 Fastest lap: Antonio Giovinazzi (Prema Racing) – 2:01.329 (on lap 2) Source:
Notes 1. – Lynn, King, Pic, de Jong, Jeffri, Erikkson and Sirotkin were all given ten-second penalties after being found guilty of using their DRS on lap one.
Standings after the round
Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points 1 1 Pierre Gasly 144 2 2 Antonio Giovinazzi 129 3 Raffaele Marciello 120 3 4 Sergey Sirotkin 115 5 Oliver Rowland 104
Teams' Championship standings Team Points 1 Prema Racing 273 1 2 Russian Time 199 1 3 Racing Engineering 180 2 4 ART Grand Prix 173 5 MP Motorsport 110
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also 2016 Belgian Grand Prix 2016 Spa-Francorchamps GP3 Series round
References
External links Official website of GP2 Series