2016 Catalunya GP2 and GP3 Series rounds
The 2016 Catalunya GP2 and GP3 Series rounds were a pair of motor races held on 14 and 15 May 2016 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. They were the first round of the 2016 GP2 season and 2016 GP3 season, respectively. The race weekend supported the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.
The round saw the début of the third-generation GP3 car, the Dallara GP3/16, which replaced the GP3/13 chassis used between 2013 and 2015.
Background
The defending champions for both GP2 and GP3, Stoffel Vandoorne and Esteban Ocon, were both unable to defend their respective titles due to the ruling which forbids driver champions from returning to the series. Vandoorne remained as a McLaren reserve and test driver, where he stood in for the injured Fernando Alonso at the Bahrain Grand Prix, while also racing in the Super Formula series in Japan. Ocon served as a Mercedes development driver and was also the reserve driver for the Renault Formula 1 team, dovetailing his F1 commitments with a season in the DTM.
Classification
Qualifying
A dramatic qualifying session saw Pierre Gasly took 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 for Prema 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, with Alex Lynn behind in third.
- 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]
Feature Race
Pierre Gasly got a good getaway from pole position, followed by Nato and the fast-starting ART car of Sergey Sirotkin. However, the safety car was called out when rookie Luca Ghiotto crashed at Turn 3. The restart on Lap 5 saw no positional changes up front. Soft-shod Alex Lynn and Jordan 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, and Sergio 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's Antonio Giovinazzi clattered into the back of Raffaele 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 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} 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 |
Campos Racing | 33 | +21.773 | 18 | |
| 13 | 12 | Arthur Pic |
Rapax | 33 | +23.022 | 14 | |
| 14 | 23 |  Daniel 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 |
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] | |||||||
Sprint Race
Reverse-grid polesitter Raffaele Marciello got a clean start, holding off Jordan King into the first corner, but Alex 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 and Pierre 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 and Luca 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, when Sean Gelael aggressively blocked Antonio 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 innocent Arthur 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, and Nobuharu 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 |
Campos | 26 | +9.178 | 17 | |
| 14 | 7 | Mitch Evans |
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 | Daniel 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] | |||||||
Qualifying
The first qualifying for GP3's third-generation car started under clear skies, with Alexander Albon taking the early lead. Jake Dennis, Jack Aitken, Kevin Jörg, Charles Leclerc, and Nirei Fukuzumi all took turns at the head of the pack, but Jake Hughes had the last word, claiming pole with a terrific lap. With teammate Jörg in second, it was a dream debut qualifying for newcomer team DAMS.
Race 1
In contrast to the qualifying session, the sky was overcast and the threat of rain ever-present. A lightning start from Ferrari Driver Academy's Charles Leclerc saw him grab first place entering the first turn, while Kevin Jörg fell to fifth. After an exciting opening few laps, the field stagnated, with Leclerc edging away from polesitter Jake Hughes and teammate Nirei Fukuzumi. Further back in the pack, Jack Aitken stalled at the start, while Steijn Schothorst retired with mechanical problems. An intense battle developed between the Koiranen GP drivers, who were fighting for tenth place and the final point. Meanwhile, Leclerc continued to build a gap to Hughes, eventually recording his first GP3 win with a margin of just over six seconds. Hughes held off Fukuzumi for second, with Antonio Fuoco finishing a distant fourth. Behind them were Jörg, Alexander Albon, and Jake Dennis, who had a wild off-track moment early on at the final corner. Óscar Tunjo finished eighth, giving him reverse-grid pole for the Sprint Race, with Nyck de Vries and Ralph Boschung completing the top ten.
Race 2
Once again, the race was set up at the start, as there were no changes for position inside the top 10 after the opening lap. Óscar Tunjo made a good start from pole position, but it was Alexander Albon that took the lead with a sensational pass around the outside Tunjo in Turn 1. Another excellent start from Antonio Fuoco saw him rise to third, ahead of Jake Dennis, with Nyck de Vries and Matevos Isaakyan both making lightning getaways to be fifth and sixth, after starting ninth and eleventh, respectively. DAMS team-mates Kevin Jörg and Jake Hughes were involved in a race-long scrap for seventh, with Saturday's race winner Charles Leclerc in hot pursuit. Despite Tunjo having a pace advantage in sector one, Albon was faster in the second and third sectors of the lap, which allowed him to maintain his lead and claim a maiden victory. ART Grand Prix swept the opening weekend for the second season in a row. For the second sprint race in a row (dating back to the final weekend of the 2015 season), every driver finished the race, which was an impressive showcase of reliability from the brand-new GP3/16 car.
Standings after the round
GP2 Series
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
GP3 Series
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- "GP2 Series 2016 Results - Spain". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. Archived from the original on 2016-05-20. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
- "Penalties for Matsushita and Gelael". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 13 May 2016. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
- "GP3 Series 2016 Results - Spain". GP3 Series. GP3 Motorsport Limited. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
- "Barcelona Post-Qualifying Penalties". GP3 Series. GP3 Motorsport Limited. 14 May 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
External links
| Previous round: 2015 Abu Dhabi GP2 and GP3 Series rounds |
GP2 Series 2016 season |
Next round: 2016 Monaco GP2 Series round |
| Previous round: 2015 Catalunya GP2 and GP3 Series rounds |
Catalunya GP2 and GP3 round | Next round: 2017 Catalunya FIA Formula 2 round 2017 Catalunya GP3 Series round |