Home Formula 2 Bird flies to Monaco win after first lap pile-up

Bird flies to Monaco win after first lap pile-up

by Valentin Khorounzhiy

Photo: Andrew Ferraro/GP2 Series Media Service

Sam Bird?took his third career victory in GP2, cruising to the chequered flag at Monte Carlo after a first corner crash eliminated a good number of contenders.

Having started in third, Bird found himself involved in the first lap pile-up, triggered when poleman Johnny Cecotto outbraked himself as he diced with Fabio Leimer for second place, with Mitch Evans having got the jump on his Arden team-mate Cecotto. A huge number of drivers found themselves stuck behind stationary cars, which saw a red flag, stopping the race for around 40 minutes. Bird himself had his rear wing removed by?Kevin Ceccon, but both were able to fix the damage before the restart.

With nine cars unable to take part in the subsequent restart, it was GP3 champion Evans who led at the green flag. He managed to hold Bird back until his mandatory stop, which came earlier than the Brit’s visit to the pits and cost him the lead. Likewise, Ceccon also managed to jump the Kiwi during the stops.

As such, Bird was the race winner, ahead of Ceccon and Evans. Felipe Nasr and James Calado were fourth and fifth respectively, finishing ahead of championship leader Stefano Coletti. Rene Binder took seventh, leaving his stop much later than the rest.

Having started in last, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs overtook Stephane Richelmi in the closing stages of the race to take reverse-grid pole. Daniel de Jong was tenth, scoring his first point in the series.

Race results
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Sam Bird Russian Time 1:36:15.919
2 Kevin Ceccon Trident Racing +22.077
3 Mitch Evans Arden International +23.225
4 Felipe Nasr Carlin +23.416
5 James Calado ART Grand Prix +29.588
6 Stefano Coletti Rapax +1:00.519
7 Rene Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus +1:02.449
8 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs MP Motorsport +1:08.400
9 St?phane Richelmi DAMS +1:12.107
10 Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport +1:22.410
11 Tom Dillmann Russian Time +1:29.356
12 Jon Lancaster Hilmer Motorsport +1 lap
13 Simon Trummer Rapax +1 lap
14 Jake Rosenzweig Barwa Addax Team +1 lap
15 Sergio Canamasas Caterham Racing +2 laps
16 Daniel Abt ART Grand Prix +2 laps
Not classified
Rio Haryanto Barwa Addax Team 26 laps
Johnny Cecotto Arden International 0 laps
Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 0 laps
Jolyon Palmer Carlin 0 laps
Julian Leal Racing Engineering 0 laps
Robin Frijns Hilmer Motorsport 0 laps
Marcus Ericsson DAMS 0 laps
Alexander Rossi Caterham Racing 0 laps
Nathanael Berthon Trident Racing 0 laps
Kevin Giovesi Venezuela GP Lazarus 0 laps