2016 Monza GP2 Series round
# 2016 Monza GP2 Series round

The 2016 Monza GP2 Series round was a GP2 Series motor race held on 3rd and 4th September 2016 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy. It was the ninth round of the 2016 GP2 Series. The race weekend supported the 2016 Italian Grand Prix.

## Report

### Qualifying

Pierre Gasly took another pole with team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi in a close second to continue the dominant form of the Prema team. However, due to irregularities in the tyre pressures, Giovinazzi was demoted toward the end of the grid, elevating third place Artem Markelov to the front row. The second row would consist of Arthur Pic and Mitch Evans.

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Grid |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 21 | Pierre Gasly | Prema Racing | 1:31.199 | – | 1 |
| EX | 20 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Prema Racing | 1:31.253 | +0.054 | 21 |
| 2 | 10 | Artem Markelov | Russian Time | 1:31.548 | +0.349 | 2 |
| 3 | 12 | Arthur Pic | Rapax | 1:31.617 | +0.418 | 3 |
| 4 | 7 | Mitch Evans | Campos Racing | 1:31.666 | +0.467 | 4 |
| 5 | 4 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1:31.710 | +0.511 | 5 |
| 6 | 5 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1:31.775 | +0.576 | 6 |
| EX | 24 | Nabil Jeffri | Arden International | 1:31.795 | +0.596 | 22 |
| 7 | 2 | Sergey Sirotkin | ART Grand Prix | 1:31.816 | +0.617 | 7 |
| 8 | 3 | Norman Nato | Racing Engineering | 1:31.846 | +0.646 | 8 |
| 9 | 15 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 1:31.855 | +0.656 | 9 |
| 10 | 22 | Oliver Rowland | MP Motorsport | 1:31.864 | +0.665 | 10 |
| 11 | 9 | Raffaele Marciello | Russian Time | 1:31.986 | +0.787 | 11 |
| 12 | 1 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1:32.037 | +0.838 | 12 |
| 13 | 19 | Marvin Kirchhöfer | Carlin | 1:32.172 | +0.973 | 13 |
| 14 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 1:32.192 | +0.993 | 14 |
| 15 | 18 | Sergio Canamasas | Carlin | 1:32.196 | +0.997 | 15 |
| 16 | 11 | Gustav Malja | Rapax | 1:32.215 | +1.016 | 16 |
| 17 | 8 | Sean Gelael | Campos Racing | 1:32.481 | +1.282 | 17 |
| 18 | 23 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 1:33.071 | +1.872 | 18 |
| 19 | 14 | Philo Paz Armand | Trident | 1:33.269 | +2.070 | 19 |
| 20 | 25 | Jimmy Eriksson | Arden International | 1:33.929 | +2.730 | 20 |
| Source: |||||||

**Notes**


    1.^ – Giovinazzi and Jeffri were excluded from qualifying after being deemed to run illegal tyre pressures during the session.

### Feature Race

Antonio Giovinazzi won what was a chaotic race after a mid-race accident shuffled the pack and elevated himself, Raffaele Marciello and Gustav Malja up the pack. On lap 15, an Arthur Pic collided with Sergio Canamasas through the second Lesmo. The pair were racing side-by-side and after barely leaving enough space through the corner, Pic lost control through the corner and counter-steered straight into Canamasas' rear wheel, sending him into a roll. Pic expressed frustration with the incident, although stewards later deemed him to be at fault for the incident - handing him a three-place grid penalty as a consequence. The safety car put Gasly from a comfortable first to fourth and now behind drivers on brand-new tyres. With four laps to go, it was Marciello leading from Giovinazzi and Malja. On the final lap, Giovinazzi benefited from the use of DRS and passed Marciello to take a home victory from Marciello (thereby making it an Italian one-two) and Malja. As well as this, Luca Ghiotto achieved the fastest lap, completing a successful race for the Italians on home soil.

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 20 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Prema Racing | 30 | 52:28.474 | 21 | 25 |
| 2 | 9 | Raffaele Marciello | Russian Time | 30 | +1.457 | 11 | 18 |
| 3 | 11 | Gustav Malja | Rapax | 30 | +1.988 | 16 | 15 |
| 4 | 21 | Pierre Gasly | Prema Racing | 30 | +2.294 | 1 | 12 (4) |
| 5 | 3 | Norman Nato | Racing Engineering | 30 | +2.809 | 8 | 10 |
| 6 | 15 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 30 | +2.823 | 9 | 8 (2) |
| 7 | 4 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 30 | +3.896 | 5 | 6 |
| 8 | 7 | Mitch Evans | Campos Racing | 30 | +6.311 | 4 | 4 |
| 9 | 22 | Oliver Rowland | MP Motorsport | 30 | +7.898 | 10 | 2 |
| 10 | 10 | Artem Markelov | Russian Time | 30 | +9.416 | 2 | 1 |
| 11 | 1 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 30 | +10.277 | 12 | |
| 12 | 5 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 30 | +11.013 | 6 | |
| 13 | 24 | Nabil Jeffri | Arden International | 30 | +17.807 | 22 | |
| 14 | 2 | Sergey Sirotkin | ART Grand Prix | 30 | +18.524 | 7 | |
| 15 | 25 | Jimmy Eriksson | Arden International | 30 | +18.109 | 20 | |
| 16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 30 | +22.201 | 14 | |
| 17 | 23 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 30 | +22.555 | 18 | |
| 18 | 19 | Marvin Kirchhöfer | Carlin | 30 | +22.833 | 13 | |
| 19 | 14 | Philo Paz Armand | Trident | 30 | +23.482 | 19 | |
| Ret | 18 | Sergio Canamasas | Carlin | 15 | Collision | 15 | |
| Ret | 12 | Arthur Pic | Rapax | 15 | Collision | 3 | |
| DSQ | 8 | Sean Gelael | Campos Racing | 29 | Disqualified | 17 | |
| Fastest lap: Luca Ghiotto (Trident) – 1:33.980 (on lap 27) ||||||||
| Source: ||||||||

**Notes**


    1.^ – Eriksson was given a five-second penalty after having been deemed to have forced another driver off the circuit.
    2.^ – Gelael was initially given a ten-second stop-go penalty for failing to slow under double-yellow flags, after setting his fastest sector times under the Safety Car period. After crossing the start/finish line more than twice without serving the penalty, he was disqualified from the race.

### Sprint Race

Norman Nato took his first win since the opening race of the championship, beating the Prema Racing pair of Gasly and Giovinazzi with a comfortable margin.

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 3 | Norman Nato | Racing Engineering | 21 | 33:51.821 | 4 | 15 |
| 2 | 21 | Pierre Gasly | Prema Racing | 21 | +4.312 | 5 | 12 |
| 3 | 20 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Prema Racing | 21 | +8.495 | 8 | 10 |
| 4 | 4 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 21 | +12.775 | 2 | 8 |
| 5 | 5 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 21 | +13.576 | 12 | 6 |
| 6 | 1 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 21 | +13.586 | 11 | 4 |
| 7 | 11 | Gustav Malja | Rapax | 21 | +21.526 | 6 | 2 |
| 8 | 19 | Marvin Kirchhöfer | Carlin | 21 | +22.566 | 17 | 1 |
| 9 | 22 | Oliver Rowland | MP Motorsport | 21 | +29.225 | 9 | |
| 10 | 10 | Artem Markelov | Russian Time | 21 | +32.813 | 10 | (2) |
| 11 | 12 | Arthur Pic | Rapax | 21 | +34.192 | 21 | |
| 12 | 24 | Nabil Jeffri | Arden International | 21 | +34.194 | 13 | |
| 13 | 18 | Sergio Canamasas | Carlin | 21 | +36.845 | 20 | |
| 14 | 9 | Raffaele Marciello | Russian Time | 21 | +40.665 | 7 | |
| 15 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 21 | +41.503 | 16 | |
| 16 | 8 | Sean Gelael | Campos Racing | 21 | +44.059 | 22 | |
| 17 | 14 | Philo Paz Armand | Trident | 21 | +48.628 | 19 | |
| 18 | 25 | Jimmy Eriksson | Arden International | 20 | +1 Lap | 15 | |
| 19 | 23 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 20 | +1 Lap | 17 | |
| Ret | 2 | Sergey Sirotkin | ART Grand Prix | 6 | Retired | 14 | |
| Ret | 7 | Mitch Evans | Campos Racing | 0 | Collision | 1 | |
| Ret | 15 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 0 | Collision | 3 | |
| Fastest lap: Artem Markelov (Russian Time) – 1:33.727 (on lap 5) ||||||||
| Source: ||||||||

    1.^ – Markelov and Latifi were penalised after it was deemed that neither driver slowed sufficiently for the Virtual Safety Car. They were each given the equivalent of a drive-through-penalty (20 seconds) applied to their race times.

## Standings after the round

| | Pos. | Driver | Points |
| - | - | - | - |
| | 1 | Pierre Gasly | 172 |
| | 2 | Antonio Giovinazzi | 164 |
| | 3 | Raffaele Marciello | 138 |
| | 4 | Sergey Sirotkin | 115 |
| 1 | 5 | Jordan King | 112 |
| | Pos. | Team | Points |
| | 1 | Prema Racing | 336 |
| | 2 | Russian Time | 220 |
| | 3 | Racing Engineering | 219 |
| | 4 | ART Grand Prix | 177 |
| 1 | 5 | DAMS | 114 |

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
