Monaco GP2: Stephane Richelmi claims maiden win on home ground
| By Charles Bradley | Saturday, May 24th 2014, 15:26 GMT |
Local hero Stephane Richelmi led a processional GP2 sprint race in Monaco from start to finish on Saturday afternoon.
The result was his first victory in the series and made it two from two for the DAMS team this weekend, following on from team-mate Jolyon Palmer's feature race win on Friday.
Richelmi just held off Caterham's Rio Haryanto at the first corner, with Haryanto getting squeezed wide at Sainte Devote so Sergio Canamasas of Trident sneaked past him into second on the exit.
Canamasas put Richelmi under huge pressure throughout the race, and even when Canamasas straightlined the Nouvelle Chicane at two-thirds distance, the Spaniard was able to close right up again.
But Richelmi had something in reserve, pulling out a two-second lead in the closing stages to record a famous win on home turf.
Haryanto finished third, over six second behind Canamasas.
Trident's Johnny Cecotto Jr finished a very distant fourth, holding off a huge train that comprised the majority of the field.
Arthur Pic chased him home, ahead of Mitch Evans, Palmer and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs.
Friday podium finisher Felipe Nasr went out at Mirabeau on the opening lap, skating off the track with a puncture sustained moments earlier at Casino Square.
The race was interrupted briefly by a safety car after Artem Markelov smote the barrier at Ste Devote, dislodging a chunk of the Tecpro barrier.
Results - 30 laps:
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Stephane Richelmi DAMS 43m17.087s
2. Sergio Canamasas Trident +2.179s
3. Rio Haryanto Caterham +8.295s
4. Johnny Cecotto Jr Trident +25.320s
5. Arthur Pic Campos +25.753s
6. Mitch Evans Russian Time +25.973s
7. Jolyon Palmer DAMS +26.587s
8. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax +26.956s
9. Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering +28.473s
10. Conor Daly Lazarus +28.721s
11. Alexander Rossi Caterham +29.987s
12. Nathanael Berthon Lazarus +30.105s
13. Stoffel Vandoorne ART +30.604s
14. Kimiya Sato Campos +31.228s
15. Andre Negrao Arden +31.657s
16. Julian Leal Carlin +32.085s
17. Daniel Abt Hilmer +32.582s
18. Simon Trummer Rapax +33.458s
19. Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering +34.328s
20. Rene Binder Arden +35.417s
21. Facu Regalia Hilmer +36.078s
22. Tio Ellinas MP -1 lap
Retirements:
Artem Markelov Russian Time 12 laps
Takuya Izawa ART 11 laps
Daniel de Jong MP 2 laps
Felipe Nasr Carlin 0 laps
