- GP2 - Austrian GP - Race Two
Cecotto holds off Coletti for GP2 sprint race win
Johnny Cecotto just held off Stefano Coletti for victory in the GP2 sprint race at the Austrian Grand Prix, winning by 0.7s after a tense battle for all three podium positions at the final laps.
Raffaele Marciello took third after holding off a last lap move from Mitch Evans, who recovered from a shocking start to finish fourth. Alexander Rossi, who had started from pole position, finished fifth ahead of Jolyon Plamer in sixth.
Cecotto made a lightning-quick start from third on the grid to take advantage of Evans, who lurched, stopped and finally got going, and Rossi who failed to get away cleanly. He quickly built up a buffer to Rossi in second as Racing Engineering team-mates Marciello and Coletti scrapped over third and fourth.
As the race settled down, Marciello attacked and passed Rossi for second and then set his sights on Cecotto ahead. Coletti also got bottled up behind Rossi, but with the Caterham Racing driver visibly struggling for grip coming out of Turn 2, he soon found a way past into Turn 3.
By that stage Marciello's charge on Cecotto had started to run out of steam and Coletti closed on his team-mate. Marciello made a mistake coming out of the final corner, allowing Coletti to use his momentum to close in through Turn 1 and make a move at Turn 2.
Cecotto said his car started to lose power towards the end of the race and Coletti, who seemed to be getting quicker and quicker as the race got older, soon arrived on his gearbox. Despite being right on the tail of Cecotto, Coletti couldn't find a way past at the main overtaking spots on the final few laps and had to settle for second.
Marciello, meanwhile, fell into a battle with Evans, who had picked his way back through the field after his slow start. Evans tried one final move into Turn 3 on the final lap but overcooked it and ran wide before finishing just 0.3s off his rival. Rossi, Plamer and Julian Leal all crossed the line in quick succession before Takuya Izawa took the final point ten seconds further down the road.
Saturday's feature race winner Felipe Nasr retired at the end of the first lap after contact at Turn 2.
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