2016 Hungaroring Feature Race

The 2016 Budapest Race 1, otherwise known as the 2016 Hungaroring Feature Race, was the eleventh race of the 2016 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Hungaroring near Budapest, Hungary, on the 23 July 2016. The race, staged in support of the 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix, would see Pierre Gasly sweep to the lead of the Championship on a searingly hot afternoon.

Gasly would start the weekend in dominant fashion, cruising to pole position during qualifying with half a second in hand over his nearest rival. Sergey Sirotkin proved to be the Frenchman's closest challenger in second, while Antonio Giovinazzi edged out Nobuharu Matsushita to grab third.

A blisteringly hot and humid day greeted the field for the race, with a thunderstorm in the morning washing away all of the rubber laid in practice and qualifying. Regardless, the circuit was dry and hot come the GP2 start time, meaning there was little surprise when Gasly went screaming off into the distance at the start.

Indeed, the Frenchman would be in a class of his own out-front, with Sirotkin slipping behind Giovinazzi and Norman Nato after a poor start. They had all started on the soft Pirelli tyres, while the best of those on the hard tyres come the end of the opening tour would be Raffaele Marciello seventh.

Indeed, it would be status quo out front until the pitstops, with Giovinazzi and Nato sweeping in on lap nine, followed by Gasly and Sirotkin a lap later. Marciello duly inherited the lead, with Gustav Malja and Luca Ghiotto the only others of note to have started on the hardest compound.

Those two duly slipped back towards Gasly as the laps ticked away, while Marciello managed to match Gasly's pace behind. Unfortunately that was not enough for the Italian to make significant ground, meaning he emerged behind Sirotkin after making his stop with eleven laps to go, on a circuit renowned for difficult overtaking.

Jimmy Eriksson would hold the lead until the final three laps, another using the alternative strategy, with Gasly duly sweeping through to claim the lead when the Swede eventually stopped. The Frenchman duly cruised home to claim victory ahead of an enticing scrap for second, a fight that ultimately resulted in Giovinazzi fending off Sirotkin across the line. Marciello was next ahead of Arthur Pic, Matsushita and Nato, while Eriksson had been set to finish eighth, only to retire on the final lap.

Background
The Hungaroring near Budapest, Hungary would provide the FIA GP2 Series with its sixth pair of races for 2016, with Formula One and the GP3 Series also making the trip. The circuit itself was unchanged from the series' last visit in 2015, with no modifications made to the DRS zones either. Likewise, there were no changes to the entry list, meaning it was business as usual arriving in Eastern Europe.

In terms of the Championship it was Oliver Rowland who arrived at the head of the field in Hungary, the Brit having ended the Silverstone weekend a point ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi. Pierre Gasly, meanwhile, had slipped to third from the lead of the Championship after the Silverstone Sprint, five off his former position, with Raffaele Marciello a further two behind in fourth. Mitch Evans completed the top five, an addition two behind, while race winner Jordan King was up to seventh.

In the Teams' Championship Prema Racing had managed to extend their lead atop the table, moving 23 points clear of Racing Engineering during the Silverstone visit. The Spanish squad themselves had traded places Russian Time, who slipped two behind, while Campos Racing ended the afternoon in fourth. ART Grand Prix completed the top five, having closed the gap to the second Spanish effort, while MP Motorsport were just a point behind ART.

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

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Rowland set the fastest lap of the race, but was ineligible to score points as he finished outside of the top ten.
 * † Eriksson was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 90% of the race distance.

Milestones

 * Fifth pole position recorded by Pierre Gasly.
 * Gasly secured his second victory in the GP2 Series.
 * Prema Racing claimed their fourth win as an entrant in GP2.

Standings
Pierre Gasly swept to the top of the Championship with his second victory in three races, 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, 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.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.