2016 Spa-Francorchamps GP2 Series round

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.

   2016 Spa-Francorchamps GP2 round

Round details
Round 8 of 11 rounds in the 2016 GP2 Series
Layout of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility 7.004 km (4.352 mi)
GP2 Series
Feature race
Date	27 August 2016
Laps	25
Pole position
Driver	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing
Time	1:56.607
Podium
First	Pierre Gasly	Prema Racing
Second	Jordan King	Racing Engineering
Third	Alex Lynn	DAMS
Fastest lap
Driver	Artem Markelov	Russian Time
Time	2:01.187 (on lap 24)
Sprint race
Date	28 August 2016
Laps	18
Podium
First	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing
Second	Gustav Malja	Rapax
Third	Luca Ghiotto	Trident
Fastest lap
Driver	Antonio Giovinazzi	Prema Racing
Time	2:01.329 (on lap 2)

Background

Sergio Canamasas announced his return to Carlin for the round, replacing René Binder^[1]

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.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
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	221
22	14	Philo Paz Armand	Trident	1:59.577	+2.970	21
Source:[2]

Notes

1.^ – Jeffri was given a grid penalty from the previous round in Hockenheim, after having been deemed to have caused a collision.^[3]

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

Pos.	No.	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:[2]

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.

Pos.	No.	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	+19.0451	6
11	1	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	18	+20.170	11
12	4	Jordan King	Racing Engineering	18	+20.4582	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	+35.5573	9
17	23	Daniël de Jong	MP Motorsport	18	+35.9894	17
18	24	Nabil Jeffri	Arden International	18	+41.6455	19
19	14	Philo Paz Armand	Trident	18	+43.500	20
20	25	Jimmy Eriksson	Arden International	18	+1:36.9626	15
21	12	Arthur Pic	Rapax	17	+1 Lap7	14
NC	10	Artem Markelov	Russian Time	17	Collision	4
Fastest lap: Antonio Giovinazzi (Prema Racing) – 2:01.329 (on lap 2)
Source:[2]

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.^[4]

Standings after the round

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. 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 Pos. 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