2016 Catalunya GP2 round

Round details
Round 1 of 11 rounds in the 2016 GP2 Series
Layout of theCircuit de Catalunya
Location	Circuit de Catalunya,Montmeló,Spain
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.665 km (2.892 mi)
GP2 Series
Feature race
Date	14 May 2016
Laps	33
Pole position
Driver	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing
Time	1:27.807
Podium
First	Norman Nato	Racing Engineering
Second	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS
Third	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing
Fastest lap
Driver	Norman Nato	Racing Engineering
Time	1:34.050 (on lap 28)
Sprint race
Date	15 May 2016
Laps	26
Podium
First	Alex Lynn	DAMS
Second	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing
Third	Jordan King	Racing Engineering
Fastest lap
Driver	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing
Time	1:33.263 (on lap 6)

The2016 Catalunya GP2 Series round was aGP2 Series motor race on 14 and 15 May 2016 at theCircuit de Catalunya inSpain. It was the first round of the2016 GP2 Series. The race weekend supported the2016 Spanish Grand Prix.

The defending champions for GP2,Stoffel Vandoorne, were unable to defend their respective titles due to the ruling which forbids driver champions from returning to the series. Vandoorne remained as aMcLaren reserve and test driver, where he stood in for the injuredFernando Alonso at theBahrain Grand Prix, while also racing in theSuper Formula series in Japan.

A dramatic qualifying session sawPierre Gasly take his first pole position of the season, his third in a row dating back to last season, and the fourth in his GP2 career. It was also the first pole position forPrema Racing, which they scored on their debut in the GP2 Series.Norman Nato grabbed his best-ever qualifying position in GP2 with a strong second place, withAlex Lynn behind in third.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Grid
1	21	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing	1:27.807	1
2	3	Norman Nato	Racing Engineering	1:28.271	2
3	5	Alex Lynn	DAMS	1:28.458	3
4	6	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	1:28.563	4
5	2	Sergey Sirotkin	ART Grand Prix	1:28.655	5
6	11	Gustav Malja	Rapax	1:28.695	6
7	22	Oliver Rowland	MP Motorsport	1:28.807	7
8	1	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	1:29.128	111
9	10	Artem Markelov	Russian Time	1:29.129	8
10	15	Luca Ghiotto	Trident	1:29.143	9
11	20	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing	1:29.163	10
12	9	Raffaele Marciello	Russian Time	1:29.274	12
13	4	Jordan King	Racing Engineering	1:29.322	13
14	12	Arthur Pic	Rapax	1:29.385	14
15	18	Sergio Canamasas	Carlin	1:29.397	15
16	19	Marvin Kirchhöfer	Carlin	1:29.440	16
17	23	Daniël de Jong	MP Motorsport	1:29.464	17
18	7	Mitch Evans	Pertamina Campos Racing	1:29.478	18
19	25	Jimmy Eriksson	Arden International	1:29.942	19
20	24	Nabil Jeffri	Arden International	1:30.254	20
21	8	Sean Gelael	Pertamina Campos Racing	1:30.304	222
22	14	Philo Paz Armand	Trident	1:30.609	21
Source:[1]

1.^ – Matsushita received a three-place grid penalty for impeding a rival during the qualifying session.^[2]

2.^ – Gelael received a three-place grid penalty for impeding a rival during the qualifying session. However, since he was unable to serve his penalty in full, Gelael started from the pitlane.^[2]

Pierre Gasly got a good getaway from pole position, followed by Nato and the fast-startingART car of Sergey Sirotkin. However, the safety car was called out when rookieLuca Ghiotto crashed at Turn 3. The restart on Lap 5 saw no positional changes up front. Soft-shodAlex Lynn andJordan King started the pit stop cycle, but Gasly's blistering pace out front eradicated any potential strategic advantage. The battle for second raged on, with Nato holding off a charging Sirotkin. But Sirotkin's race quickly unravelled when he spun in Turn 2 on Lap 23 and stalled the engine, a rare mistake from the Russian driver. The safety car came out once again while Sirotkin's stricken car was retrieved. This proved advantageous for the drivers on the hard tyre, as they were awarded a "free" pit stop under the safety car. As such, Gasly, Nato,Nicholas Latifi, andSergio Canamasas all emerged in front of Lynn.

The race restarted again on Lap 26, and this time, there were moves aplenty.Artem Markelov jumped ahead of both Lynn and King for P5, before Nato made a brave race-winning move in the final complex of corners to take the lead. Shortly after, the race became time-certain, which spurred on drivers to make more moves. Latifi passed Gasly on Lap 33 to claim second, while Markelov continued his charge to the front by deposing Canamasas for fourth.

The race ended under a bizarre set of circumstances: Prema Racing'sAntonio Giovinazzi clattered into the back ofRaffaele Marciello on Lap 34, sending him into the Turn 4 gravel. The safety car came out for the third time, with time running out just before the field crossed the line. Under GP2 rules, there is always one lap after the time runs out, but despite this rule, the checkered flag was accidentally waved one lap too early. Because of race control's gaffe, the results were rolled back to one lap before, which annulled the accident between Marciello and Giovinazzi. However, Giovinazzi was still awarded a twenty-second time penalty which relegated him to an 18th-place finish.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Norman Nato	Racing Engineering	33	58:51.044	2	25 (2)
2	6	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	33	+1:337	4	18
3	21	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing	33	+4.248	1	15 (4)
4	10	Artem Markelov	Russian Time	33	+5.145	8	12
5	18	Sergio Canamasas	Carlin	33	+7.294	15	10
6	5	Alex Lynn	DAMS	33	+7.596	3	8
7	4	Jordan King	Racing Engineering	33	+8.678	13	6
8	9	Raffaele Marciello	Russian Time	33	+11.544	12	4
9	11	Gustav Malja	Rapax	33	+13.102	6	2
10	22	Oliver Rowland	MP Motorsport	33	+17.513	7	1
11	1	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	33	+18.526	11
12	7	Mitch Evans	Pertamina Campos Racing	33	+21.773	18
13	12	Arthur Pic	Rapax	33	+23.022	14
14	23	Daniël de Jong	MP Motorsport	33	+23.787	17
15	19	Marvin Kirchhöfer	Carlin	33	+24.125	16
16	25	Jimmy Eriksson	Arden International	33	+24.348	19
17	8	Sean Gelael	Pertamina Campos Racing	33	+27.522	PL
18	20	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing	32	+1 Lap	10
19	24	Nabil Jeffri	Arden International	32	+1 Lap	20
Ret	14	Philo Paz Armand	Trident	28	Mechanical	21
Ret	2	Sergey Sirotkin	ART Grand Prix	23	Spun off	5
Ret	15	Luca Ghiotto	Trident	0	Accident	9
Fastest lap:Norman Nato (Racing Engineering) – 1:34.050 (on lap 28)
Source:[1]

Reverse-grid polesitterRaffaele Marciello got a clean start, holding offJordan King into the first corner, butAlex Lynn got a great start from third and passed King into turn 2. It took Lynn merely two laps to catch and sail past Marciello, setting the Briton up for a dominant drive to victory. Behind him, Marciello plummeted to fourth, being passed by King andPierre Gasly in quick succession. Gasly then overtook King for second on Lap 6 and set off in pursuit of his former teammate. Positions remained at the front of the field, but it was all change in the middle of the pack.Sergey Sirotkin andLuca Ghiotto chewed through almost half the field from their last-row starting positions.

The intense midfield battle came to an abrupt end on Lap 21, whenSean Gelael aggressively blockedAntonio Giovinazzi on the back straight, but Giovinazzi was already partially alongside the Indonesian driver. He was launched over Gelael's left-rear wheel and slid down the remainder of the straight, collecting an innocentArthur Pic in Turn 10. Giovinazzi hurtled towards the barriers at unabated speed, skipping across the gravel before slamming the tyre wall side-on. He climbed out of his car visibly shaken, but otherwise uninjured, which was positive news after such a violent impact. The safety car was deployed, but a lengthy clean-up meant that it could only be recalled on the final lap. As a result, Lynn was able to take a second consecutive Spanish sprint race victory, while Gasly, King,Artem Markelov, Marciello,Oliver Rowland,Nicholas Latifi, andNobuharu Matsushita also claimed points.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Alex Lynn	DAMS	26	43:50.241	3	15
2	21	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing	26	+0.377	6	12 (2)
3	4	Jordan King	Racing Engineering	26	+1.120	2	10
4	10	Artem Markelov	Russian Time	26	+2.168	5	8
5	9	Raffaele Marciello	Russian Time	26	+3.382	1	6
6	22	Oliver Rowland	MP Motorsport	26	+3.990	10	4
7	6	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	26	+4.584	7	2
8	1	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	26	+5.647	11	1
9	18	Sergio Canamasas	Carlin	26	+8.115	4
10	11	Gustav Malja	Rapax	26	+8.419	9
11	2	Sergey Sirotkin	ART Grand Prix	26	+8.698	21
12	15	Luca Ghiotto	Trident	26	+8.828	22
13	8	Sean Gelael	Pertamina Campos Racing	26	+9.178	17
14	7	Mitch Evans	Pertamina Campos Racing	26	+9.650	12
15	19	Marvin Kirchhöfer	Carlin	26	+10.152	15
16	3	Norman Nato	Racing Engineering	26	+10.430	8
17	23	Daniël de Jong	MP Motorsport	26	+10.726	14
18	24	Nabil Jeffri	Arden International	26	+11.672	19
19	25	Jimmy Eriksson	Arden International	25	+1 Lap	16
Ret	12	Arthur Pic	Rapax	20	Collision	13
Ret	20	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing	20	Accident	18
Ret	14	Philo Paz Armand	Trident	13	Retired	20
Fastest lap:Pierre Gasly (Prema Racing) – 1:33.263 (on lap 6)
Source:[1]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Pierre Gasly 33 2 Norman Nato 27 3 Alex Lynn 23 4 Nicholas Latifi 20 5 Artem Markelov 20

Teams' Championship standings Pos Team Points 1 DAMS 43 2 Racing Engineering 43 3 Prema Racing 31 4 Russian Time 30 5 Carlin 10

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

• 2016 Spanish Grand Prix
• 2016 Catalunya GP3 Series round

• Official website of GP2 Series

• 2016 in Spanish motorsport
• May 2016 sports events in Spain
• 2016 GP2 Series rounds

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata