Julian Leal has lost his pole position for Sunday’s GP2 Series Sprint race in Russia after the Carlin driver was penalised for a collision with Marco Sorensen during the Feature race.
Leal finished eighth on the road, just ahead of Sorensen, but the Colombian was deemed to be responsible for a clash earlier in the race, and the stewards decided to switch the two drivers’ positions.
MP Motorsport driver Sorensen, who is racing in GP2 this year as well as full-time in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Tech 1 Racing, will therefore take over the Sprint race pole position, while Leal will start down in ninth.
Stephane Richelmi was also handed a penalty after the Feature race at Sochi, with the DAMS driver receiving a twenty second penalty for exceeding track limits and gaining an advantage when he ran wide and off track and overtook Rapax driver Simon Trummer.
The Monegasque driver finished outside the points in seventeenth but falls to twenty-second as a result of his penalty.
Richelmi’s team-mate Jolyon Palmer took the GP2 Series title during the Feature race after winning the race while Leal’s team-mate Felipe Nasr failed to score any points.
The Sprint race will see Sorensen joined on the front row of the grid by Spaniard Sergio Canamasas of Trident Racing.
