2016 Spa Feature Race

The 2016 Spa Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2016 Spa Race 1, was the fifteenth race of the 2016 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on the 27 August 2016. The race, held in support of the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix, would see Pierre Gasly sweep to victory and re-establish his Championship lead.

It was Gasly's Prema Racing teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, however, who grabbed pole, winning a duel with the Frenchman to claim the prime spot on the grid. Behind the two Premas came Gustav Malja, half a second off their pace, with Norman Nato a fraction behind in fourth.

Yet, having dominated qualifying neither Prema would lead at the start, for Malja made a barnstorming getaway to grab the lead into La Source. Gasly made a solid enough start to lead the chase behind the Swede, while Giovinazzi bogged down badly to slip behind Norman and Jordan King.

The opening stages saw the top seven, all on soft Pirelli tyres, quickly sprint clear of the rest of the field, knowing that their tyres would not last. Gasly would, however, have to wait until lap four to snatch the lead from Malja, and duly sprinted away from the Rapax to establish his own lead.

Malja would stay out two more laps, and lose two more positions, before leading the first stoppers in at the end of lap six, with Gasly and Raffaele Marciello pitting next. That handed Artem Markelov the lead having just swept past compatriot Sergey Sirotkin, while Gasly rejoined as the first of the stoppers in eighth, eighteen seconds off the lead.

From that point on the race was over, for Gasly simply sliced through the field on his fresh tyres, leaping to fifth within five laps of his stop. Those yet to stop took that as their queue to abandon their tyres, with Markelov the last of those to stop on lap 18, with seven laps left to run.

Indeed, Gasly would cruise home to claim his third victory of the season, surviving a late VSC as he did so. King survived well to finish second, while Alex Lynn battled his way onto the podium despite some opening lap contact with Giovinazzi.

Background
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps greeted the GP2 Series for the fifteenth and sixteenth races of the 2016 campaign, with Formula One and the GP3 Series also in attendance. The legendary circuit itself remained unchanged from the Series' 2015 visit, with no modifications made to the DRS zones or layout. There was, however, a change to the entry list, with Sergio Canamasas returning to Carlin after missing the Hockenheim weekend.

Into the Championship and the second race in Germany had resulted in a change at the top, with Sergey Sirotkin seizing the lead from Pierre Gasly. Indeed, the pair had ended the weekend level on 113 points, both with two wins and two second places, but the Russian was deemed to be ahead courtesy of an additional third place. Behind, Raffaele Marciello had moved two clear of compatriot Antonio Giovinazzi to solidify third, and was still just eleven off the leaders.

In the Teams Championship Prema Racing had seen their lead reduced at the head of the field, although it still stood at healthy 42 points upon arrival in Spa. ART Grand Prix had moved to be the Italian squad's closest challengers, four clear of third placed Russian Time, while Racing Engineering had lost ground in fourth. MP Motorsport were next, four ahead of Campos Racing, while Arden International continued prop up the table in eleventh.

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

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:
 * * Jeffri was handed a three place grid penalty after causing a collision during the 2016 Hockenheimring Sprint Race.

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

Milestones

 * Third victory for Pierre Gasly.
 * Also the Frenchman's tenth podium visit.
 * Prema Racing scored their fifth win in the GP2 Series.
 * Jordan King earned his sixth and final podium finish.

Standings
Victory put Pierre Gasly back at the head of the Championship, with the Frenchman moving 23 points clear of second placed Sergey Sirotkin. The Russian himself had just kept ahead of Raffaele Marciello and Antonio Giovinazzi, who ended the opening day in Spa two and three behind the Russian respectively. Oliver Rowland, meanwhile, completed the top five, and was the latest man to break the 100 point barrier.

In the Teams' Championship the opening battle of Spa had resulted in a victory for Prema Racing, who moved 59 points clear at the top of the table. Russian Time had barely managed to keep pace in second, with themselves and Racing Engineering both moving past ART Grand Prix after their poor start to the weekend. DAMS were next, the latest squad to move into triple figures for the season, while Arden International remained buried at the foot of the table.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.