2016 Hungaroring Sprint Race

The 2016 Hungaroring Sprint Race, otherwise officially known as the 2016 Budapest Race 2, was the twelfth race of the 2016 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Hungaroring on the 24 July 2016. The race, held in support of the 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix, would see Sergey Sirotkin sweep to victory as others made mistakes around him.

Jordan King would get the race underway from pole, with blisteringly hot sunshine once again greeting the field. The Brit would ultimately sprint clear at the start, while teammate Norman Nato was left to squabble with Nobuharu Matsushita and a fast starting Sirotkin.

The Russian ultimately squeezed into second through turn one, and duly went charging off after King. He was fortunate, however, to avoid teammate Matsushita barging into Antonio Giovinazzi, a collision that sent cars scattering across the circuit.

That set up the next accident of the afternoon, with Arthur Pic pitching himself into a spin right in the middle of turn two. Once again the field went scattering around a pirouetting car, although this time Gustav Malja taking Alex Lynn out fo the race, while Matsushita and Luca Ghiotto went charging off into the barriers.

A safety car was required to clean up the mess, destroying King's advantage from the start. The Brit's day was to get even worse at the restart, with the Racing Engineering racer drifting wide out of the final corner, a slide that allowed Sirotkin to charge inside and claim the lead into turn one.

With that the race was all but over, with Sirotkin recording a hoard of fastest laps to win by five seconds from King. Nato managed to hang onto third ahead of Artem Markelov, while Mitch Evans fended off Oliver Rowland in the closing stages. Championship leader Pierre Gasly, meanwhile, would have a quiet race, but picked up four points for seventh and fastest lap, while Raffaele Marciello survived the two early accidents to claim eighth.

Background
The Hungaroring was unmodified overnight following the Feature, meaning there was no need for the GP2 Series to complete a practice session. Likewise, there were no retroactive penalties to modify the grid ahead of the Sprint, meaning King would start from pole as expected.

Into the Championship and Pierre Gasly had swept to the top with his second victory in three races in the Feature, moving seven points clear of teammate Antonio Giovinazzi. Raffaele Marciello was next, twelve behind the Italian, while Oliver Rowland was the big loser as he dropped to fourth, 24 points off the leader. Norman Nato and Mitch Evans were next, level on 71 points, while Jordan King retained seventh.

In the Teams' Championship Prema Racing had finally grabbed hold of the lead after the Feature, moving 58 points ahead of Russian Time. The Russian team themselves had moved ahead of Racing Engineering after the opening race at the Hungaroring, two ahead of the Spaniards. ART Grand Prix were next, having become the fourth team to break through the 100 point barrier, with Campos Racing dropping to fifth.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Grid
The grid for the second Budapest race was formed from the results of the Feature, with the top eight in the field reversed as per-FIA GP2 Series rules:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

 * Second victory for Sergey Sirotkin.
 * ART Grand Prix claimed their 47th victory in the GP2 Series.
 * Jordan King secured his fifth podium finish.

Standings
Pierre Gasly ended the Hungarian weekend with an eleven point advantage atop the Championship, largely due to the fact that teammate Antonio Giovinazzi having been unable to add to his tally in the Sprint. The Italian retained second, however, himself eleven ahead of compatriot Raffaele Marciello in third. Indeed Marciello was under more immediate pressure behind, with Oliver Rowland, Norman Nato and Jordan King all within five points of his 85 point haul.

In the Teams Championship it was GP2 virgins Prema Racing who led the charge after the halfway point, leaving Hungary with 203 points to their name. Racing Engineering were back as their nearest challengers, albeit some 42 points back, with Russian Time making way in third on 150. ART Grand Prix had made some valuable ground in fourth, now 24 behind the Russian effort, while Campos Racing had moved into the 100 club in fifth.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.