05/09/2015
NEWS STORY
Under the sunny skies of Monza, Alexander Rossi raced his way to back-to-back victories by passing series leader, Stoffel Vandoorne on lap 23.
Pole-sitter, Pierre Gasly made a strong start and controlled an early safety car period to maintain the provisional lead. But it was Rossi who caused problems by promoting himself to fifth, just behind his title challenger.
Vandoorne was the first man to stop, switching to primes, whilst Gasly stopped a lap later but watched closely as the Belgian cruised past. To add to his worries, the Frenchman emerged from the pits with a loose wheel, undoing the DAMS pilot's good work.
After making quick progress, Sergey Sirotkin was halted following a collision with Alex Lynn, putting both parties out of the race. DAMS who were looking at two top three finishes, suffered two retirements in a matter of minutes.
Richie Stanaway and Artem Markelov fought hard in their battle at the front, until their eventual pit-stops, promoting Vandoorne into the lead from Rossi. After several laps of pressure, the American swept passed the McLaren junior to take the lead and close the gap in the championship.
Mitch Evans, who was excluded from yesterday's qualifying session, quietly crept up the order until appearing behind Arthur Pic in fifth place.
After clearing the Frenchman and further aided by a time penalty issued to Norman Nato, the Kiwi found himself in P3 providing he drove his RUSSIAN TIME across the finish line.
Vandoorne did all he could to re-take the lead, but Rossi defended well to claim victory. Evans climbed up from P23 to take back-to-back podiums making up for yesterday's heart-break.
Stanaway was fourth ahead of Markelov in fifth. Nato's penalty place the Arden driver in sixth ahead of Pic in seventh. Despite early contact with Raffaele Marciello, Jordan King took the chequered flag in eighth and will start tomorrow's sprint race from pole position. Robert Visiou and Rene Binder claimed the final points.
Kate Hewitt
1. Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering
2. Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix
3. Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME
4. Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix
5. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME
6. Norman Nato Arden International
7. Arthur Pic Campos Racing
8. Jordan King Racing Engineering
9. Robert Visoiu Rapax
10. Rene Binder MP Motorsport
11. Sergio Canamasas Daiko Team Lazarus
12. Julian Leal Carlin
13. Rio Haryanto Campos Racing
14. André Negrao Arden International
15. Raffaele Marciello Trident
16. Simon Trummer Hilmer Motorsport
17. Patric Niederhauser Daiko Team Lazarus
18. Johnny Cecotto Trident
19. Jann Mardenborough Carlin
Not Classified
Sergey Sirotkin Rapax
Alex Lynn DAMS
Pierre Gasly DAMS
Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix
Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix
Meindert Van Buuren MP Motorsport
Fastest Lap: Johnny Cecotto (Trident) 1:33,723 on lap 20