2016 Red Bull Ring Sprint Race

The 2016 Red Bull Ring Sprint Race, also known as the 2016 Spielberg Race 2, was the eighth race of the 2016 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Red Bull Ring on the 3 July 2016. The race, staged in support of the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix, would see Jordan King lead home a British one-two-three.

It was raining heavily when the field headed out onto the grid, with a series of spins seeing the start at first delayed and then made under the safety car. King therefore led the field away when the race officially start on lap three from pole, and held his advantage over teammate Norman Nato.

Unfortunately the field barely completed the opening third of the lap before the SC was called upon again, this time to allow Sean Gelael to be removed from a gravel trap. King duly aced the restart to establish a healthy lead over the pack, leaving Nato to fend off Oliver Rowland, Raffaele Marciello and Luca Ghiotto.

That trio duly elbowed their way past Nato during the following laps, while Alex Lynn barged his way up the order with a succession of impressive moves. The Brit duly dragged Nicholas Latifi, Mitch Evans and Sergey Sirotkin up to the back of Ghiotto after they cleared Nato, resulting in a huge scrap between second and eighth as King scampered clear.

In the midst of that fight the rain finally stopped, with the track drying so quick that the field were soon scrambling around looking to cool their tyres. Ultimately it was Artem Markelov who dived in for slicks first, although a second safety car of the afternoon was thrown soon after, allowing everyone outside of the top eight to gamble as well.

King would again scamper clear at the restart and go on to claim victory, while Rowland managed to escape his group to secure second. Lynn, however, proved to be the man to watch in the closing stages, snatching third after an epic fight with Marciello, leaving the Italian to fend off Sirotkin and co. for the lesser points, while Antonio Giovinazzi was best of the slick shod racers in fifth.

Background
The Red Bull Ring was unchanged overnight, as were the conditions creating some apprehension as the heavy clouds continued to dump rain over the circuit. There were, however, changed to the grid, with post-Feature penalties removing Sergey Sirotkin and Gustav Malja from the top eight. That promoted Jordan King into the top eight, with the Brit then placed on pole for the Sprint by virtue of the reverse-grid rule.

In terms of the Championship it was Raffaele Marciello who had launched himself to the top of the table in the Feature, moving three ahead of Norman Nato and race winner Mitch Evans. Indeed, the race had caused the gaps at the top of the Championship to be even more condensed then before, with Artem Markelov slipping to fourth, but remaining just four off the lead. Antonio Giovinazzi was next, six off the Russian, while Jimmy Eriksson was up to seventeenth after his maiden points finish.

In the Teams' Championship it was Russian Time who continued to lead the way, having actually managed to extend their lead as Prema Racing failed to score. Indeed, the Italian effort had slipped back towards Racing Engineering in third, while Campos Racing moved into the top four after their one-two. ART Grand Prix, meanwhile, had moved ahead of DAMS, while Trident and Rapax swapped places at the foot of the table.

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

Grid
The grid for the eighth race of the 2016 campaign was formed from the finishing positions of the Feature, with the top eight reversed as per-FIA GP2 Series rules:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Nato recorded the fastest lap of the race, but was ineligible to score points as he finished outside of the top ten.

Milestones

 * Maiden victory for Jordan King.
 * Racing Engineering scored their 25th win as an entrant in the GP2 Series.

Standings
The Championship leader after the eighth race of the season proved to be Raffaele Marciello, with the Italian ten ahead of second placed Mitch Evans. Norman Nato was next, a point behind the Kiwi, while Artem Markelov was a further point back in fourth, level with Oliver Rowland. Antonio Giovinazzi and Alex Lynn were also above the 50 point mark, with Pierre Gasly, Jordan King and Sergey Sirotkin completing the top ten.

The Teams' Championship saw Russian Time head the table at the end of the Austrian weekend, the Russian squad slithering to a twenty point lead. Racing Engineering had retained second, a point ahead of Prema Racing, with Campos Racing retaining fourth. ART Grand Prix and DAMS were next, level on 72 points but the latter ahead on count-back, while Rapax were sat at the foot of the table on seven.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.