28/08/2016
NEWS STORY
Antonio Giovinazzi has grabbed the second win of the Spa-Francorchamps weekend for PREMA Racing with a dominant display of speed and consistency in this morning's Sprint Race, making a great start before overtaking for the lead and stretching out a gap to the flag ahead of Gustav Malja and Luca Ghiotto.
Malja made a good start from pole when the lights went out, but Giovinazzi made a better one from P3 to slide inside front row starter Ghiotto at La Source for P2 behind the Swede. The Trident man soon had his mirrors filled by Raffaele Marciello and teammate Artem Markelov, who dispatched Alex Lynn in fine style at Campus, while further back Pierre Gasly and Oliver Rowland had a coming together, with the Frenchman coming off worse as his lost part of his front wing.
The Red Bull tester was soon back on a charge, dispatching Rowland on the run down to Eau Rouge and Lynn at the Bus Stop two laps later. Teammate Giovinazzi wasn't hanging around either: after watching the leader for a few laps he attacked on lap 7, going outside Malja on the Kemmel straight before sweeping through into Les Combes for a lead he was not going to relinquish to the flag.
Markelov looked quicker than his teammate all race long but was just unable to get by Marciello, and with Gasly on a charge the Russian's situation was looking grim: by lap 14 the Frenchman had caught the RUSSIAN TIME pair, feinted left then swung right on Markelov and was through at Rivage, throwing the Russian into the clutches of King and Lynn: the Williams man got a tow from both to take King at Les Combes and Markelov at La Source, who ran wide at Les Combes next time through to lose out to King too.
Back out in front Giovinazzi was streaking away to see the chequered flag 2.3 seconds ahead of Malja, who drove a fine race for his first GP2 podium in second. Ghiotto held on for his third podium of the year ahead of Gasly, who dispatched Marciello with a fine move at the Bus Stop but ran out of time to move further forward, with Lynn leading countryman King home in P6. Markelov was out of tyres but looked to have done enough for the final point, but the race-long fight between Rowland and Sergey Sirotkin spilled over at the Bus Stop, with Sirotkin running inside his rival but tapping the back of his countryman, with Markelov spun into retirement and Rowland grabbing 8th.
1. Antonio Giovinazzi PREMA Racing
2. Gustav Malja Rapax
3. Luca Ghiotto Trident
4. Pierre Gasly PREMA Racing
5. Raffaele Marciello RUSSIAN TIME
6. Alex Lynn DAMS
7. Jordan King Racing Engineering
8. Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport
9. Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix
10. Sergio Canamasas Carlin
11. Norman Nato Racing Engineering
12. Nicholas Latifi DAMS
13. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix
14. Mitch Evans Pertamina Campos Racing
15. Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin
16. Daniël de Jong MP Motorsport
17. Nabil Jeffri Arden International
18. Sean Gelael Pertamina Campos Racing
19. Philo Paz Armand Trident
20. Jimmy Eriksson Arden International
21. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME
22. Arthur Pic Rapax
Fastest Lap: Antonio Giovinazzi (PREMA Racing) 2:01.329 (Lap 2)
GP2 Media
Drivers Standings after Belgium
| Pos | Name | Nat | Team | Points |
| 1 | Gasly | FRA | Prema Racing | 146 |
| 2 | Giovinazzi | ITA | Prema Racing | 129 |
| 3 | Marciello | ITA | Russian Time | 120 |
| 4 | Sirotkin | RUS | ART Grand Prix | 115 |
| 5 | Rowland | GBR | MP Motorsport | 101 |
| 6 | King | GBR | Racing Engineering | 100 |
| 7 | Lynn | GBR | DAMS | 91 |
| 8 | Nato | FRA | Racing Engineering | 81 |
| 9 | Ghiotto | ITA | Trident | 80 |
| 10 | Evans | NZL | Pertamina Campos Racing | 77 |
| 11 | Markelov | RUS | Russian Time | 77 |
| 12 | Matsushita | JPN | ART Grand Prix | 58 |
| 13 | Pic | FRA | Rapax | 36 |
| 14 | Malja | SWE | Rapax | 28 |
| 15 | Gelael | INO | Pertamina Campos Racing | 24 |
| 16 | Latifi | CAN | DAMS | 21 |
| 17 | Kirchhofer | GER | Carlin | 20 |
| 18 | Canamasas | GBR | Carlin | 14 |
| 19 | Eriksson | SWE | Arden International | 10 |
| 20 | de Jong | NED | MP Motorsport | 6 |
| 21 | Jeffri | MAS | Arden International | 2 |
Team standings after Belgium
| Pos | Team | Points |
| 1 | Prema Racing | 275 |
| 2 | Russian Time | 197 |
| 3 | Racing Engineering | 181 |
| 4 | ART Grand Prix | 173 |
| 5 | DAMS | 112 |
| 6 | MP Motorsport | 107 |
| 7 | Pertamina Campos Racing | 101 |
| 8 | Trident | 80 |
| 9 | Rapax | 64 |
| 10 | Carlin | 34 |
| 11 | Arden International | 12 |