ART Grand Prix’s Esteban Gutiérrez took his fourth race victory of the season at Hockenheimring today. The Mexican stamped his authority on the Series even further after a dominant win over his rivals, and now has a 30 point lead in the Series standings.
Race 2 in Germany was once again full of drama. Tech 1 Racing’s Daniel Juncadella had a good start and kept his lead from pole, as did Gutierrez who was quick to snatch second from Addax Team’s Felipe Guimaraes, the Brazilian’s start was then made worse when Coletti passed him for third. Despite a clean getaway for the majority of the field, a tangle further down the grid saw the safety car deployed before the end of lap one.
At the restart on lap seven Gutierrez was straight on the back of Juncadella’s car and it wasn’t long before the Spaniard made a mistake and the ART driver took the lead of the race. Guimaraes pushed hard to pass Coletti and grabbed the final podium spot on lap nine, but it was short lived – the Addax driver lost control exiting the hairpin a few laps later and ended his race prematurely.
The final drama of the race came on lap 14. Manor Racing’s James Jakes and Carlin’s Josef Newgarden clashed causing the safety car to take to the track for the remainder of the race. Gutierrez eventually crossed the line to take the victory followed by Juncadella just 0.4 seconds down the road.
The Mexican also posted the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:31.853. Stefano Coletti held on to the third podium spot giving Tech 1 Racing its first podiums of the season. Addax Team’s Mirko Bortolotti drove a solid race to fourth ahead of yesterday’s race winner Robert Wickens in fifth. ART Grand Prix’s Pedro Nunes took the last point of the race in sixth.
Esteban Gutierrez now has 64 points and leads the Series by 30 points. Robert Wickens is in second with 34 points ahead of Alexander Rossi in third with 26 points. ART Grand Prix now have a 43 point lead over Status Grand Prix in the team standings. Manor Racing is third with 44 points.
1 2 E. GUTIERREZ ART Grand Prix 17 32:14.652
2 28 D. JUNCADELLA Tech 1 Racing 17 32:15.009 0.357
3 27 S. COLETTI Tech 1 Racing 17 32:15.762 1.110
4 19 M. BORTOLOTTI Addax Team 17 32:16.336 1.684
5 4 R. WICKENS Status Grand Prix 17 32:21.056 6.404
6 3 P. NUNES ART Grand Prix 17 32:22.548 7.896
7 17 F. GUIMARAES Addax Team 17 32:23.287 8.635
8 1 A. ROSSI ART Grand Prix 17 32:24.184 9.532
9 6 D. MORAD Status Grand Prix 17 32:24.532 9.880
10 20 M. CHRISTENSEN MW Arden 17 32:27.576 12.924
11 18 P. SANCHEZ LOPEZ Addax Team 17 32:29.493 14.841
12 15 D. SMITH Carlin 17 32:30.235 15.583
13 5 I. LUKASHEVICH Status Grand Prix 17 32:31.245 16.593
14 16 L. FORESTI Carlin 17 32:32.925 18.273
15 21 M. MONRAS MW Arden 17 32:34.240 19.588
16 31 V. GHIRELLI Atech CRS GP 17 32:35.360 20.708
17 25 N. MULLER Jenzer Motorsport 17 32.36.456 21.804
18 26 D. SECHELARIU Tech 1 Racing 17 32:38.204 23.552
19 9 A. QUAIFE-HOBBS Manor Racing 17 32:38.681 24.029
20 14 J. NEWGARDEN Carlin 17 32:40.137 25.485
21 30 O. OAKES Atech CRS GP 16 29:58.444 DNF
NC
7 J. JAKES Manor Racing 13 24:28.984 DNF
22 L. CORDEIRO MW Arden 9 18:11.397 DNF
10 N. MELKER RSC Muecke Motorsport
9 18:12.466 DNF
8 R. HARYANTO Manor Racing 1 1:46.582 DNF
29 R. MERHI Atech CRS GP 1 2:24.983 DNF
11 R. VAN DER ZANDE RSC Muecke Motorsport 0 DNF
24 S. TRUMMER Jenzer Motorsport 0 DNF
23 P. VARHAUG Jenzer Motorsport 0 DNF
12 T. HEGEWALD RSC Muecke Motorsport 0 DNF
2 E. GUTIERREZ ART Grand Prix FL 1:31.853 Lap 14
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