GP2: Lynn grabs second win of season

Williams Formula 1 test driver Alex Lynn reinvigorated his GP2 season with his second victory of 2016 at Hockenheim.

In his wake, Saturday winner Sergey Sirotkin battled through to second and claimed the points lead from Pierre Gasly – despite the Red Bull protege charging from the back of the grid to sixth.

Lynn shot into the lead at the start as poleman Antonio Giovinazzi made a slow getaway. Although MP Motorsport driver Oliver Rowland put pressure on DAMS racer Lynn on several occasions early on, the leader was ultimately able to break away and Rowland had to focus on defending second.

Giovinazzi picked up a five-second time penalty for forcing Arthur Pic off the track on the run to the first corner, and was in a hurry to get past Rowland for second. His efforts to do so ended in contact in the complex before the stadium section at half-distance and Giovinazzi retired in the gravel.

That put Gustav Malja onto Rowland's tail – the Rapax driver having caught a massive fishtailing slide on the pits straight as he tried to get between Rowland and Giovinazzi off the line – but Sirotkin had the best pace in this growing pack.

After despatching Malja, the Russian Renault F1 test driver spent lap after lap trying to get through Rowland's defenses before finally securing second. With Malja also losing performance, it was his Rapax team-mate Pic who came through to score his first podium of the year, with Luca Ghiotto pushing Rowland back to fifth.

Having controversially lost third place on Saturday due to his on-board fire extinguisher emptying itself during the race, Gasly immediately surged from 20th to 14th on lap one. A collision between Norman Nato and Nabil Jeffri ahead handed him two more places, and he then made assertive progress through the upper midfield to claim sixth ahead of Raffaele Marciello.

That leaves Sirotkin and Gasly tied at the head of the championship, but with the Russian getting the nod on countback.

Artem Markelov surged through the field on fresh tyres after a mid-race pit stop and reached eighth on the road, only for a time penalty for pitlane speeding to drop him back to ninth between Malja and fellow pit stopper Mitch Evans.

RESULTS - 27 LAPS:

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Originally on Autosport.com