2016 Monza Sprint Race

The 2016 Monza Sprint Race, otherwise known as the 2016 Monza Race 1, was the eighteenth race of the 2016 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Lombardy, Italy, on 4 September 2016. Held in support of the 2016 Gran Premio d'Italia, the Monza Sprint would see Norman Nato claim victory after acing the start.

It was Mitch Evans who would start the race from pole, although a poor getaway for the Kiwi initially opened the door for Jordan King to take the lead. However, a storming start from Nato saw the Frenchman charge inside his Racing Engineering teammate into the Rettifilo to snatch control of the race.

Championship leader Pierre Gasly also made a good start, and duly led the chase against the two Spanish entered cars out front. However, a very early VSC would halt any early progress, caused by two separate incidents that saw Luca Ghiotto and Evans spun out of the race.

It was honours even at the restart, with Nato leading from King, Gasly, Gustav Malja and Antonio Giovinazzi. It was the latter of the group who proved to be the man to watch, with the Italian barging past Malja on lap five to grab fourth.

That move prompted Gasly to push King to breaking point in his attempts to keep away from the sister Prema. He duly forced his way past King on lap nine with a dive to the outside of the Rettifilo, although had to wait until they hit the brakes for the second chicane to finally get the move done.

Out front, meanwhile, Nato would run untroubled to the chequered flag, cruising home four seconds clear of Gasly to claim victory. Giovinazzi was left to mug King on the penultimate lap to complete podium, while King himself managed to fend off two attacks from Malja and Artem Markelov on the final tour to hold onto fourth.

Background
The Autodromo Nazionale Monza was untouched after the Feature, meaning there was no requirement for the GP2 Series to practice prior to the Sprint. There were, however, changes to the grid, with several penalties relegating resulting in Arthur Pic getting a grid penalty, as well as a disqualification for Sean Gelael. However, these issues would not affect the order in the top eight, meaning Mitch Evans would start from pole as expected.

Into the Championship and victory for Antonio Giovinazzi in the Feature had ensured that the Italian racer moved into striking position, ending the opening day in Monza within eight points of teammate Pierre Gasly. Indeed, the Frenchman's pole and fourth place in the Feature were vital to keeping him in the lead of the Championship, with Raffaele Marciello also making gains. Sergey Sirotkin, meanwhile, had lost ground in fourth, as had Oliver Rowland in fifth.

In the Teams' Championship it was, unsurprisingly, Prema Racing who continued to lead the charge after the Feature, with their pair of Gasly and Giovinazzi heading the Drivers' Championship. Indeed, the Italian team had moved 100 points clear at the summit, and were the only team to have scored more than 300 points in total. Russian Time remained their closest challengers, having just broken the 200 point barrier, with themselves, Racing Engineering and ART Grand Prix looking set to fight for second.

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

Grid
The grid for the second GP2 Series race of the Monza weekend was arranged according to the results of the Feature Race, with the top eight finishers reversed as per-FIA GP2 Series rules:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Markelov and Latifi were handed 20 second time penalties for failing to slow down in time for the VSC.

Milestones

 * Jimmy Eriksson made his last start in the GP2 Series.
 * Norman Nato scored his second victory in GP2.
 * 27th win for Racing Engineering as an entrant in GP2.

Standings
Pierre Gasly ended the weekend still at the head of the Championship, although his lead had been cut to ten points by teammate Antonio Giovinazzi. Furthermore, despite the fact that there were still 98 points left to fight for, the form of the two Prema Racing drivers suggested it was now a two horse race for the title with four races to go. Indeed, Raffaele Marciello had slipped 36 points off the leader across the weekend, with Sergey Sirotkin almost out of the fight in fourth with 115.

In the Teams' Championship it seemed as if it was Prema's crown to lose, despite the fact that the Italian squad were in their maiden GP2 season. Indeed, with a 99 point advantage the virgin GP2 effort could afford to miss an entire weekend and still retain the lead with two weekends to go, meaning they were set to take the title in Sepang. Behind Racing Engineering had moved a point ahead of Russian Time to grab second, while ART Grand Prix had lost a lot of ground in fourth.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.