• GP2, Belgian Grand Prix, Race 2

Kral wins Spa sprint race

Josef Kral's impressive start saw him lead by turn one © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Belgian GP2 round

• Drivers:
• James Calado
• |
• Josef Kral
• |
• Felipe Nasr

• Teams:
• Barwa Addax Team
• |
• DAMS
• |
• Lotus GP

Josef Kral won the GP2 sprint race at Spa as a lightning start saw him lead from the first corner to the flag.

Kral started from fifth but was leading before the field braked for the first corner, with pole-sitter Felipe Nasr having a poor start to drop back to fourth. James Calado lept up from seventh on the grid to second but then lost out to Nasr out of the final corner on the last lap to finish third.

Feature race winner Marcus Ericcson was fourth ahead of Fabio Leimer and Stephane Richelmi as championship contenders Luiz Razia and Davide Valsecchi both failed to score following a first lap incident.

As Kral's start saw him jump in to the lead by the first corner, Nasr forced a number of cars wide at turn one and the fast-starting Calado took advantage up the inside to steal second place. Johnny Cecotto Jr outbraked himself in to La Source and hit Max Chilton to end his own race, while Giedo van der Garde took contact in the pack but somehow everyone continued.

Razia attacked Calado coming on to the Kemmel Straight but was forced on to the grass and spun across the track - mercifully avoiding contact with anyone else although Valsecchi hit the barrier taking avoiding action. Calado remains under investigation for the incident so could find his third place in jeopardy.

Esteban Gutierrez passed Haryanto for sixth on lap four and set off after the two Tridents and Nasr. Four laps later, Gutierrez went round the outside of Richelmi in to Les Combes, but then got frustrated behind Leal. Attacking out of Malmedy, the door was always closing and Gutierrez put both cars in the gravel, rejoining in 17th place having been fifth.

Kral had started edging away from Calado with eight laps left, and it soon became clear that the Lotus' tyres were going off as Nasr closed in. Ericsson went round the outside of Richelmi at La Source for fourth place and caught the back of the battle for second in the final lap, and just as it looked like Calado had held on Nasr made the most of the extra life in his rear tyres to out-drag him to the line out of the final corner.

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