The 2016 Monaco GP2 Series round was a pair of motor races held on 27 and 28 May 2016 at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco as part of the GP2 Series. It was the fourth round of the 2016 GP2 Series and was run in support of the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix. The first race, a 40-lap feature event, was won by Russian Time driver Artem Markelov after starting from 15th position. Norman Nato finished in second for Racing Engineering and MP Motorsport's Oliver Rowland took third. Nobuharu Matsushita for ART Grand Prix won the following day's 30-lap sprint race from pole position with Carlin's Marvin Kirchhöfer and Markelov's teammate Raffaele Marciello second and third.
Sergey Sirotkin won the pole position for the feature race by posting the fastest lap in qualifying but a slow start off the grid allowed Nato into the lead. Nato pulled away from the rest of the field and led for the majority of the race until a virtual safety car caught him out in the event's closing laps. Markelov was the main beneficiary of this and he made his mandatory pit stop to change tyres on the penultimate lap and held off Nato to take his maiden GP2 Series win. Matsushita started from pole position in the sprint race and repelled a challenge from the fast-starting Kirchhöfer to his right at the start. In a processional race, Matsushita opened out a 13.6 second lead over Kirchhöfer to win for the second time in GP2.
The results of the round meant Nato took the lead of the Drivers' Championship by one point over feature race winner Markelov. Alex Lynn maintained third place with 41 points with Pierre Gasly and Marciello fourth and fifth. In the Teams' Championship, Russian Time moved from fourth to first and Racing Engineering were eleven points behind but they retained second place. The leaders of the Teams' Championship enterin the event DAMS dropped to third while Prema Racing fell to fourth with eight rounds left in the season.
Background
The 2016 Monaco GP2 Series round was the second of eleven scheduled events of the 2016 GP2 Series season. It was held on 27 and 28 May 2016 at the Circuit de Monaco in Monaco and supported the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought two types of tyre to the race: two dry compounds (super soft "options" and soft "primes"). The drag reduction system (DRS) had one activation zone for the race: on the start/finish straight linking Anthony Noghes and Sainte Devote turns. There were 11 teams of 2 drivers each entered for the race for a total of 22 participants and each driver used the Dallara GP2/11 vehicle.
Before the race, Prema Racing driver Pierre Gasly led the Drivers' Championship with 33 points, seven ahead of Norman Nato of Racing Engineering in second, who in turn, was a further four points in front of third-placed Alex Lynn for Russian Time. DAMS' Nicholas Latifi and Russian Time racer Artem Markelov were both tied for fourth with 20 points each. DAMS and Racing Engineering jointly led the Teams' Championship with 43 points each; Prema Racing stood in third position with 31 points and held a one-point gap over the fourth-placed Russian Time. Carlin were fifth with ten points.
Practice and qualifying
One 45-minute practice session was held on Thursday. The start of the session was moved forward five minutes following repairs to a drain cover that was dislodged during the first Monaco Grand Prix practice session by Nico Rosberg and struck by Jenson Button. Sergey Sirotkin (ART Grand Prix) was fastest with a lap of 1:20.361, almost one-tenth of a second faster than Nato in second. Lynn, Arthur Pic, Jordan King (Racing Engineering), Mitch Evans (Campos Racing), Gasly, Raffaele Marciello (Russian Time), Oliver Rowland (MP Motorsport) and Markelov occupied positions three to ten. Gasly ran wide at Sainte Devote corner, colliding with an outside barrier, and removing his front-left wheel. The virtual safety car (VSC) system was enabled to allow marshals to extricate his car from the track. Soon after, Nobuharu Matsushita (ART Grand Prix) locked his tyres on the run to the same corner and went straight into the wall. Daniël de Jong (MP Motorsport) oversteered into the Sainte Devote barrier and Sean Gelael (Campos Racing) ended the session early when he stalled his car and triggered a traffic holdup.
Thursday's afternoon's qualifying session ran for 30 minutes. Qualifying was divided into two groups of 13 cars to avoid overcrowding. Odd numbered vehicles were drawn in Group A and the even numbered cars were put in Group B. The drivers' fastest lap times determined the starting order for the first race. The pole position winner took four points for the Drivers' and Teams' Championships. The second group was competitive because eight drivers temporarily claimed pole position. Sirtokin clinched his maiden GP2 Series pole position with a time of 1:19.186, which was recorded in the session's closing period. He was joined on the grid's front row by Nato whose lap was seven-tenths of a second slower in the final seconds of Group A. Nato's teammate King qualified in third, Evans fourth, and Rowland fifth. Lynn, Antonio Giovinazzi (Prema Racing), Marciello, Latifi and Luca Ghiotto (Trident) rounded out the top ten qualifiers.
Pic was the fastest driver not to qualify in the top ten; his fastest time was nearly 1.2 seconds off Sirotkin's pace. He was followed by Matsushita and Marvin Kirchhöfer (Carlin) and Gelael in 12th to 14th. 15th-place qualifier Markelov misjudged his approach to Sainte Devote corner, locked his car's tyres, went airborne after driving over the indie kerbing and ran straight into a barrier. The wall was separated into two halves, stopping the session for 20 minutes while it was repaired. Markelov was unhurt. Gustav Malja (Rapax), Philo Paz Armand (Trident), de Jong and Jimmy Eriksson (Arden International) filled positions 16 to 19. Gasly had a car brake failure and entered the pit lane but missed the weighbridge when requested to enter the area. Gasly was required to start the feature event from the pit lane. Sergio Canamasas (Carlin) was judged to have made the same error and Nabil Jeffri (Arden International) was observed to block Markelov and both drivers were required to start from the pit lane. Jeffri could not take his penalty as he qualified 22nd. Since he could not take his three-place grid penalty, Jeffri began from the pit lane.
Qualifying classification Group A +Final Group A qualifying classification Driver Team Time 1 3 Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1:19.894 2 2 7 Mitch Evans Pertamina Campos Racing 1:19.962 4 3 5 Alex Lynn DAMS 1:20.014 6 4 9 Raffaele Marciello Russian Time 1:20.601 8 5 16 Luca Ghiotto Trident 1:20.630 10 6 1 Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:20.744 12 7 19 Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 1:21.016 13 8 21 Pierre Gasly Prema Racing 1:21.381 9 11 Gustav Malja Rapax 1:21.965 16 10 23 Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport 1:21.978 18 11 25 Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 1:22.029 19 Source:
Group B +Final Group B qualifying classification Driver Team Time 1 2 Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 1:19.186 1 2 4 Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:19.691 3 3 22 Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 1:19.852 5 4 20 Antonio Giovinazzi Prema Racing 1:19.972 7 5 6 Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1:20.182 9 6 12 Arthur Pic Rapax 1:20.360 11 7 18 Sergio Canamasas Carlin 1:20.600 8 8 Sean Gelael Pertamina Campos Racing 1:20.877 14 9 10 Artem Markelov Russian Time 1:22.160 15 10 14 Philo Paz Armand Trident 1:22.707 17 11 24 Nabil Jeffri Arden International 1:22.722 Source:
Notes — Pierre Gasly and Sergio Canamasas started from the pit lane having failed to stop at the scrutineering weighbridge. — Nabil Jeffri received a three-place grid penalty after being found guilty of impeding Artem Markelov during Group B's qualifying session. However, since Jeffri could not take his penalty in full, he started from the pit lane.
Races The first race was held over or 60 minutes (which ever came first) and the regulations required drivers to make one pit stop. The first ten finishers scored points, with two given to the fastest lap holder. The grid for the second race was determined by the finishing order of the first but with the first eight drivers in reverse order of where they finished. It was run for or 45 minutes (which ever came first) and, in contrast to the first race, drivers were not required to make pit stops. The top eight finishers earned points towards their respective championships.
Feature race The race started in warm weather of and a track temperature of at 11:15 Central European Summer Time (CEST) (UTC+2) on 27 May. Sirotkin made a slow start, allowing fellow front-row starter Nato to brake later than him and claim the lead into Sainte Devote corner. Sirtokin then repelled a challenge from King over second place. The field avoided incident on the first lap and the top three of Sirotkin, Nato and King pulled away from the fourth-placed Evans over the next few laps. On lap six, the first mandatory pit stops to change tyres were made by Giovinazzi, Ghiotto, Pic and Kirchhöfer in the lower end of the order. Meanwhile, Nato set consecutive fastest laps to give himself a lead of 1.2 seconds over Sirotkin at the start of lap 10. King was distanced by Nato and Sirotkin by lap 11 as Sirotkin made an error and cut the Novelle Chicane, losing time. Rowland was challenging the slower Evans who straight-lined the Novelle Chicane at the exit of the tunnel to keep the position. Evans was subsequently issued a five-second time penalty on the 20th lap after the stewards deemed him to have gained an illegal advantage.
Meanwhile, another VSC was triggered on lap 18 when Gasly was trying to recover ground and mounted the back of Eriksson's car at La Racasse corner, which would ultimately result in Eriksson's retirement and debris was left on the track. Gasly was consequently forced to enter the pit lane to have his front wing replaced. The VSC was soon lifted after the debris was cleared from the circuit. At the restart, Rowland quickly displaced Evans and charged after the leading trio of Nato, Sirotkin and King. More drama came on lap 23 when Latifi was battling Markelov for seventh and got distracted. This caused Latifi to clip the barrier alongside the circuit in the tunnel and retired in the pit lane with a bent front-left suspension. This allowed Markelov to run without aerodynamic turblence affecting him and set a string of laps that were similar to that set by the race leaders. Then, as Sirotkin was quickly catching Nato, his car got into an uncontrolled sideways manoeuvre after clipping the kerb too hard at the exit of La Piscine turn and hit the wall for the second successive feature race. Another VSC was activated to allow for general cleanup and racing resumed on lap 24. On the next lap, a third VSC was required when Jeffri crashed at La Rascasse corner. The VSC was lifted on lap 26. Competitive action lasted for three laps until a fourth VSC came about after King struck the barrier; he drove to the pit lane to retire.