2017 Barcelona Sprint Race

The 2017 Barcelona Sprint Race, otherwise known as the 2017 Catalunya Race 2, was the fourth race of the 2017 FIA Formula Two Championship, staged at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on the 14 May 2017. The race would see Nobuharu Matsushita sweep to a maiden F2 victory, benefiting from a mid-race mistake by Nicholas Latifi.

Artem Markelov would start the Sprint from pole, but a poor start from the Russian racer allowed Latifi to rocket through and claim the lead. Gustav Malja followed the Canadian through with Matsushita, with Markelov arriving at the first corner in a frustrated ninth.

The opening lap would end with a safety car, however, for Nyck de Vries and Antonio Fuoco spun each other out at turn five, and duly got stuck. Fortunately their cars were quickly snatched away from the circuit, meaning the race resumed after just two laps behind the safety car.

Latifi duly blasted clear at the restart, moving out of DRS range before anyone had a chance to challenge. That left Leclerc as the centre of attention, with the Feature Race winner duly picking his way up the order from eighth.

Indeed, there was little change to the order once Leclerc moved into fourth, with Latifi holding a healthy margin over Matsushita and Oliver Rowland. However, with just five laps to go Latifi's mirror suddenly snapped off, a failure which drew the Canadian's attention away into turn five and duly caused him to drift wide.

Matsushita duly shot through into the lead, while Rowland just managed to get ahead of his DAMS colleague as the Canadian rejoined. Matsushita, meanwhile, would blast away with his newly inherited lead, pulling out a second on Rowland before the end of the lap.

With that the race was run, with Matsushita securing his maiden F2 victory by three seconds from Rowland and Latifi. Leclerc was a battle hardened fourth ahead of Jordan King, while Alexander Albon tumbled to eighth late on with tyre trouble.

Background
There were no changes made to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya overnight on Saturday, meaning there was no need for a morning practice. What had changed was the grid, although time penalties for Ralph Boschung, Johnny Cecotto, Jr. and Sérgio Sette Câmara did not affect the top eight. That meant that Artem Markelov would start from pole as expected, with Feature Race winner Charles Leclerc in eighth.

Into the Championship and that Feature Race victory for Leclerc had ensured that the Monegasque racer already had a commanding lead in the Championship, heading into the second race of the weekend with a 29 point advantage. Luca Ghiotto led the anti-Leclerc charge in second, with Oliver Rowland and Markelov just behind. Jordan King completed the early top five, level with Alexander Albon, while Gustav Malja had become the twelfth scorer of the season on Saturday.

Russian Time still led the way in the Teams' Championship, although their advantage over Prema Racing had slipped to just three points after the third race. There was already a small gap back to third placed DAMS, with ART Grand Prix having likewise slipped back after the first three races. Elsewhere Racing Engineering had registered their first points of the season in the Feature, leaving Trident and Campos Racing as the only non-scorers.

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

Grid
The grid for the second race of the 2017 campaign was formed from the finishing positions of the Feature Race, with the top eight reversed as per-FIA Formula Two rules.

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

Milestones

 * Maiden Formula Two victory for Nobuharu Matsushita.
 * Also Matsushita's third triumph at GP2/F2 level.
 * ART Grand Prix secured their maiden victory in F2.
 * ART also claimed their 49th win at GP2/F2 level.
 * Maiden podium for Nicholas Latifi in F2.
 * The Canadian racer also recorded his first fastest lap award.

Standings
Charles Leclerc had seen his title lead slightly chipped away in the second Barcelona race, ending the afternoon with 26 points in hand over Oliver Rowland. The Brit himself had moved into second, overtaking Luca Ghiotto, while Artem Markelov had retained fourth. Victory, meanwhile, had put Nobuharu Matsushita into the top five, with no new scorers on the list.

In the Teams' Championship it was Prema Racing whom now led the way, finally overhauling Russian Time. Indeed, the Russian squad had slipped to third, albeit just three points off the lead, with DAMS level with Prema in second, but behind having failed to win a race. Elsewhere ART Grand Prix were a secure fourth ahead of MP Motorsport, while Campos Racing and Trident had failed to score once again.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.