Spanish Grand Prix - Race 2

Nasr claims maiden GP2 triumph

11-05-2014

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Felipe Nasr scored his first victory in the GP2 Series in Sunday morning's sprint race at Barcelona, his 50th start in the category.

Carlin racer Nasr, who made a fantastic start from sixth on the grid, passed poleman Tom Dillmann's Arden car on lap two to take the lead that he would not relinquish until the chequered flag.

Points leader Jolyon Palmer, following an early clash with Rio Haryanto, took the fight to Nasr in his DAMS car, after passing Dillmann with an audacious move at Turn 7 on lap five. Palmer chased down Nasr, and stayed with him for the first half of the race, before Nasr pulled away.

Palmer came back at him in the closing stages, but a big lock-up at Turn 1 sent him across the run-off, and he dropped back to finish 7.6s behind the Brazilian. "I had a really long brake [pedal] at the end," said Palmer, who extended his points lead to 22 points.

Dillmann finished third, having been a last-minute call-up for Arden, just holding off a charging Arthur Pic. Julian Leal finished fifth, ahead of yesterday's winner Johnny Cecotto Jr.

Mitch Evans had run sixth, having charged up from 14th on the grid, but rooted his tyres and tumbled back to the tail of the field.