GP2 Series

Pic Takes Maiden GP2 Victory in Hungary Feature Race

3 Mins read

Arthur Pic took his first GP2 Series victory after a late safety car played into the hands of the Frenchman in the Feature race at the Hungaroring. The Campos Racing driver started on the soft tyre and was able to capitalise from the crash of Sergio Canamasas and Nathanael Berthon to hold on for the win.

At the start, pole sitter Felipe Nasr of Carlin led away, with EQ8 Caterham Racing stand-in driver Tom Dillmann holding second until Jolyon Palmer of DAMS managed to fight his way past, and the two main championship contenders pulled comfortably away from the Frenchman, who struggled to get heat into his tyres in the early laps.

All the work done to pull away for Nasr and Palmer was for nothing as the safety car was brought out early when a clash between the Campos Racing machine of Kimiya Sato and Stephane Richelmi resulted in the second DAMS machine crashing heavily into the barriers.

Pic was amongst the drivers to take his compulsory pit stop under safety car conditions, and the Frenchman was able to run at a strong enough pace to take the lead when the drivers on the medium tyres began to pit.

Stefano Coletti was able to take second for Racing Engineering after surviving an early clash with the Carlin of Julian Leal, having started fifteenth on the grid and making the same tyre strategy as the race winner. Likewise, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs was able to take his first podium of the season in third for Rapax, just ahead of Japanese driver Takuya Izawa of ART Grand Prix, who started right at the back of the field.

All four drivers were able to hold on with older Medium tyres despite Palmer and Nasr having fresh soft tyres after the crash between the Trident Racing entry of Canamasas and the Venezuela GP Lazarus machine of Berthon that saw the safety car deployed. Canamasas required some medical attention at the side of the road.

Palmer managed to take fifth with fresh soft tyres on the final laps after the safety car, managing to finally get passed Nasr and also the Hilmer Motorsport machine of Daniel Abt. Abt was able to keep Nasr behind him to take sixth, while eighth place and the Sprint race pole on Sunday went to the second Racing Engineering machine of Raffaele Marciello. It was a case of what might have been for the Italian however, as he was ahead of Pic after his pit stop before being handed a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Stoffel Vandoorne was ninth for ART Grand Prix after being held up by Dillmann for most of the race, while the final point went to Berthon after being able to continue after his clash with Canamasas.

A dejected Rio Haryanto was on course for second behind Pic but lost the left rear tyre of his EQ8 Caterham Racing machine behind the safety car a few laps before the end.

Hungaroring Feature Race Result

POS DRIVER NAT TEAM TIME/Laps
1 Arthur Pic FRA Campos Racing 1h00.18.627s
2 Stefano Coletti MON Racing Engineering +2.787s
3 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs GBR Rapax +3.151s
4 Takuya Izawa JAP ART Grand Prix +3.661s
5 Jolyon Palmer GBR DAMS +3.828s
6 Daniel Abt GER Hilmer Motorsport +5.111s
7 Felipe Nasr BRZ Carlin +5.190s
8 Raffaele Marciello ITA Racing Engineering +5.954s
9 Stoffel Vandoorne BEL ART Grand Prix +6.213s
10 Nathanael Berthon FRA Venezuela GP Lazarus +7.038s
11 Tom Dillmann FRA EQ8 Caterham Racing +7.605s
12 Marco Sorensen DEN MP Motorsport +8.102s
13 Simon Trummer SWI Rapax +8.398s
14 Mitch Evans NZL RT Russian Time +8.756s
15 Conor Daly USA Venezuela GP Lazarus +11.641s
16 Daniel de Jong NED MP Motorsport +13.436s
17 Andre Negrao BRZ Arden International +14.224s
18 Artem Markelov RUS RT Russian Time +15.944s
19 Jon Lancaster GBR Hilmer Motorsport +16.066s
20 Rene Binder AUT Arden International +1 Lap
RET Rio Haryanto INO EQ8 Caterham Racing 30 Laps
RET Sergio Canamasas ESP Trident Racing 29 Laps
RET Johnny Cecotto Jr VEN Trident Racing 22 Laps
RET Kimiya Sato JAP Campos Racing 10 Laps
RET Stephane Richelmi MON DAMS 5 Laps
RET Julian Leal COL Carlin 5 Laps

 

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