- GP2 - Spanish GP - Race 2
Nasr takes maiden GP2 victory
Williams reserve driver Felipe Nasr won the first race of his GP2 career in Sunday's feature race at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Now in his third season in GP2, Nasr had managed 11 podiums up to this weekend, but executed an impressive drive and kept championship leader Jolyon Palmer at bay to finally break his duck.
Nasr made a brilliant start from sixth on the grid to line up third into the first corner and second coming out of it. He got past Tom Dillmann coming out of Turn 5, who had made a decent start from pole but could not hold off the Brazilian.
Palmer, meanwhile, jumped from seventh to fourth at the start before making contact with Rio Haryanto in third at Turn 5 before Haryanto then went straight on at Turn 7. On lap five he managed to pull off a well-executed pass on Dillmann for second place at Turn 7.
Palmer initially pressured Nasr, but never got close enough to attempt a move and had damage to his front wing from the earlier contact with Haryanto. He finished 7.6s off the Brazilian after running wide at the first corner three laps from the end and bouncing through the run-off zone.
Dillmann managed to hold on for third but only after coming under intense pressure from Arthur Pic towards the end of the race. The two were split by 0.3s as they crossed the line with Julien Leal rapidly closing in on the final few laps.
Feature race winner Johnny Cecotto Jr finished sixth after passing Mitch Evans for the position on lap 21. Evans started to slow in the final six laps before plummeting from a points-paying position all the way down to last place and retiring two laps from the end. Stephane Richelmi and Stefano Coletti took the final points on offer in seventh and eighth.
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