Briton had been sent to the back of the grid on Friday but two strong drives see him extend championship lead overall
Sunday 7 September 2014 11:25, UK
Jolyon Palmer completed an incredible turnaround at Monza on Sunday with victory in the GP2 Sprint Race edging him closer to the title.
Having been sent to the back of the grid after being excluded from qualifying on Friday, it seemed the 23-year-old’s championship advantage was in danger. However, the Briton fought through the field in the Feature Race to take reverse grid pole and was never troubled during the Sprint Race, meaning he leaves Italy having actually extended his lead over Felipe Nasr by 11 points.
If Palmer therefore outscores the Brazilian by six points in Russia he will be champion with two races remaining.
"I think it has been the most incredible weekend," he said. "We made a bit of a silly mistake in qualifying, but credit to the team as well as they have done an incredible job since Friday night. When we found out we would be starting from the back we put our heads down and did a really good strategy and race on Saturday and managed to control the race today.”
Nasr had started third in the Sprint Race, but made a terrible getaway dropping to ninth and then struggled to get back into the points paying positions. He would eventually cross the line in seventh.
One man who had no problem carving through the field, though, was Stefano Coletti who charged through from ninth on the grid to finish second. The Monegasque driver pulled off a number of fantastic overtakes, including a move more akin to karting as he slid his car into the first corner, rotating the rear on the brakes to pass Marco Sorensen.
Coletti would repeatedly set fastest laps as he tried to hunt down Palmer for the win, but the Briton was clearly managing the gap and responded to extend his lead once it had dropped to a second.
Palmer’s DAMS team-mate Stephane Richelmi completed the podium in third – his first visit to the rostrum since Monaco.
While there were some fantastic battles throughout the race, Sergio Canamasas will perhaps be the man it is remembered for most after a number of reckless moves that led to him being black-flagged.
The Trident driver straight-lined the Ascari chicane, keeping his foot planted through the gravel and dangerously rejoined in the middle of the pack, making contact with Adrian Quaife-Hobbs.
That in turn caused the field to bunch up behind and Pierre Gasly and Artem Markelov made contact, resulting in the Frenchman being fired into the barriers on the run to Parabolica.
Having been forced to back off when his team-mate rejoined, Johnny Cecotto would then lose the rear of his car under braking at Parabolica and spin into Nathanael Berthon, eliminating the Trident driver.
Canamasas was not done, however, and would go onto hit Rene Binder at the second chicane and spin the Arden driver out of the race before turning into Raffaele Marciello seconds later at the first Lesmo and forcing the Italian off the track before being disqualified.
GP2 Italy – Sprint Race
1) Jolyon Palmer (GBR) – DAMS – 36:38.991
2) Stefano Coletti (MON) – Racing Engineering - +1.501
3) Stephane Richelmi (MON) – DAMS - +3.024
4) Marco Sorensen (DEN) – MP Motorsport - +4.881
5) Andre Negrao (BRA) – Arden International - +7.980
6) Jon Lancaster (GBR) – Hilmer Motorsport - +8.448
7) Felipe Nasr (BRA) – Carlin - +10.602
8) Arthur Pic (FRA) – Campos Racing - +11.238
9) Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (GBR) – Rapax - +12.453
10) Daniel de Jong (NED) – MP Motorsport - +16.157
Drivers’ Championship
1) Jolyon Palmer – 231
2) Felipe Nasr – 188
3) Stoffel Vandoorne – 164
4) Johnny Cecotto – 128
5) Mitch Evans – 125
