Red Bull Ring GP2: Giovinazzi leads Prema 1-2 in practice
GP2 rookie Antonio Giovinazzi carried on with his rich run of form by leading a Prema Racing 1-2 in practice at the Red Bull Ring.
Antonio Giovinazzi, PREMA Racing
GP2 Series Media Service
A late lap from the Italian, who had stolen headlines by sweeping the previous round of the championship in Baku, demoted teammate and Red Bull junior Pierre Gasly to second, the new track surface allowing Giovinazzi to shatter Stoffel Vandoorne's GP2/11 track record from qualifying in 2015.
While the early pace in the session was set by DAMS driver Nicholas Latifi, his teammate Alex Lynn was the one to clock in the first sub-1m15s lap, before Gasly established himself out front with a 1m14.592s.
Shortly thereafter, Sergey Sirotkin made the benchmark a 1m14.476s - and any attempt of an immediate response from his rivals was scuppered by Latifi spinning out at Turn 8, which brought out the Virtual Safety Car.
After that brief disruption, Gasly was back out front with a 1m14.457s, but, as the session approached halfway, Racing Engineering's Jordan King comfortably cleared that lap with a 1m14.241s effort.
Soon after that, the red flags made for a seven-minute stoppage as Gustav Malja pulled over to the side of the track, with smoke bellowing out of his GP2/11.
King's benchmark looked set to fall when Giovinazzi picked up the pace in the closing minutes, running one tenth up after two sectors.
But the Italian had to abandon his lap at the very end because of another VSC appearance, with Mitch Evans and Nabil Jeffri spinning at Turn 1 in rapid succession.
Giovinazzi was undeterred, however, putting in a 1m13.922s lap at the last second to demote teammate Gasly, who had just surpassed King's best lap.
King settled for third, with Raffaele Marciello passing teammate Artem Markelov for fourth at the chequered flag.
Sirotkin had to do with sixth, ahead of Oliver Rowland, Lynn and rookie duo Luca Ghiotto and Marvin Kirchhofer.
Rene Binder, driving for ART Grand Prix at his home track in place of the suspended Nobuharu Matsushita, took 11th.
Practice results
Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 20 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Prema Powerteam | 20 | 1'13.922 | 210.676 | |
2 | 21 | Pierre Gasly | Prema Powerteam | 22 | 1'14.212 | 0.290 | 209.852 |
3 | 4 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 19 | 1'14.241 | 0.319 | 209.770 |
4 | 9 | Raffaele Marciello | RUSSIAN TIME | 19 | 1'14.444 | 0.522 | 209.198 |
5 | 10 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 19 | 1'14.471 | 0.549 | 209.123 |
6 | 2 | Sergey Sirotkin | ART Grand Prix | 19 | 1'14.476 | 0.554 | 209.108 |
7 | 22 | Oliver Rowland | MP Motorsport | 19 | 1'14.645 | 0.723 | 208.635 |
8 | 5 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 23 | 1'14.649 | 0.727 | 208.624 |
9 | 15 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 21 | 1'14.687 | 0.765 | 208.518 |
10 | 19 | Marvin Kirchhofer | Carlin | 22 | 1'14.736 | 0.814 | 208.381 |
11 | 1 | Rene Binder | ART Grand Prix | 22 | 1'14.799 | 0.877 | 208.205 |
12 | 18 | Sergio Canamasas | Carlin | 22 | 1'14.870 | 0.948 | 208.008 |
13 | 8 | Sean Gelael | Campos Racing | 21 | 1'14.923 | 1.001 | 207.861 |
14 | 3 | Norman Nato | Racing Engineering | 21 | 1'14.965 | 1.043 | 207.744 |
15 | 24 | Nabil Jeffri | Arden International | 22 | 1'14.999 | 1.077 | 207.650 |
16 | 23 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 21 | 1'15.110 | 1.188 | 207.343 |
17 | 7 | Mitch Evans | Campos Racing | 16 | 1'15.134 | 1.212 | 207.277 |
18 | 12 | Arthur Pic | Rapax | 23 | 1'15.296 | 1.374 | 206.831 |
19 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 15 | 1'15.367 | 1.445 | 206.636 |
20 | 11 | Gustav Malja | Rapax | 14 | 1'15.731 | 1.809 | 205.643 |
21 | 25 | Jimmy Eriksson | Arden International | 20 | 1'15.822 | 1.900 | 205.396 |
22 | 14 | Philo Paz Armand | Trident | 21 | 1'17.194 | 3.272 | 201.746 |
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