GP2: Vandoorne claims record with race win

McLaren Formula 1 reserve Stoffel Vandoorne clinched his seventh GP2 win of 2015 in Abu Dhabi, and his 11th in two years to go top of its all-time win list. With the win, Vandoorne moves clear of Lotus F1 driver Pastor Maldonado, who won 10 GP2 races between 2007-'10.

From second on the grid Vandoorne was able to get alongside polesitter Pierre Gasly going into Turn 1, but the Frenchman squeezed him to the apex and was able to hold the lead on the outside. Red Bull junior Gasly defended hard on the opening few laps but Vandoorne stayed within DRS range of the DAMS driver and lined him up for a pass on lap four.

Gasly went on the outside at the Turn 7 hairpin, expecting Vandoorne to use DRS to pass him into Turn 8, but Vandoorne caught him napping and snuck up the inside of the Frenchman to take the lead. Gasly's woes continued on the same lap as Mitch Evans completed a bold move on the isnide of Turn 12 to demote him to third.

By lap five, all of the front-runners who had started on the soft tire suffered with serious tire degradation and were being caught by those who started on the medium compound.

Vandoorne and Evans had built a big enough gap out front for it not to be a serious issue for them but Gasly fell way down the order, as several drivers including Raffaele Marciello, breezed past him. During the frenetic scrap, the Ferrari protege, who lost several places at the start, passed both Alexander Rossi and Alex Lynn, before dispatching Gasly to move up to third.

On the following lap all those who had started on the soft tire scrambled for the pits, except Lynn, who stayed out as a result of his teammate pitting.

Shortly after the early front-runners rejoined the race the virtual safety car was deployed after Nicholas Latifi and Norman Nato made contact at the penultimate corner. On the restart, Artem Markelov and Jordan King, who were now up to second and third, respectively, resumed their intense battle, before Markelov retired with suspected mechanical problems.

As Vandoorne, Evans, Rossi and Gasly – who was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane – carved their way through the field, Marciello stayed out until lap 26. The Italian rejoined behind Vandoorne but ahead of Evans.

Champion Vandoorne, as he has done so many times this season, disappeared off down the road and crossed the line almost 10 seconds clear of the rest of the field. Meanwhile, Marciello was told by his team not to push too hard but he had Russian Time driver Evans to contend with. Fortunately for Marciello, he was able to manage his tires well and fended off Evans for second place, and his fourth podium of the year.

Rossi, who emulated Vandoorne's move on Gasly midway through the race, came home comfortably in fourth. Gasly hung on to fifth despite his penalty, with King and Rio Haryanto fighting all the way to the line in sixth and seventh.

Williams Formula 1 development driver Lynn secured the reverse-grid pole in eighth, ahead of Andre Negrao and Nathanael Berthon, who picked up the final point in Lazarus' final GP2 feature race.

Sean Gelael recorded his first retirement of the year after an embarrassing accident after completing his pit stop. The Indonesian driver locked up exiting the pitlane and went straight into the wall, losing his front wing and forcing him to retire.

Originally on Autosport.com