A Season in Review - 2014 GP2

Supporting the F1 racing series, GP2 2014 season has gathered twenty seven drivers organized in thirteen teams. As of 2014, it has been announced that the GP2 championship would be contested at every European F1 race, so races were held at Red Bull Ring and in Sochi for the first time, while there were no races in Sepang and in Singapore. So, in this year’s championship, twenty four races, one feature race and one sprint race with a reverse-grid start, were held at twelve venues.

The GP2 2014 season opened in 5th April at Bahrain International Circuit, where Joylon Palmer took the pole, but had to settle for third, behind Julián Leal on the second and Stoffel Vandoorne, the winner of the first round. In the second round, it was Palmer who won with Simon Trummer following him. In Catalunya Stéphane took the pole, but finished in tenth, while Johnny Cecotto Jr. won the feature race, followed by Joylon Palmer, who was the second in both feature and sprint race. The sprint was won by Felipe Nasr, the third to finish the feature race.

At glamorous Monaco, Palmer won the pole and the feature race, followed by Mitch Evans, while Felipe Nasr was third. The sprint was conquered by Stéphane Ricelmi, son of WRC driver Jean-Pierre Richelmi and Monaco’s native. Despite Cecotto’s pole at Red Bull Ring, the checkered flag was claimed by Nasr, followed by Stoffel Vandoorne, but Cecotto managed to win the sprint race. At Hockenheimring, Mitch Evans won the first leg with Vandoorne being second, and Coletti was the fastest driver in the second leg.

At Hungaroring French driver Arthur Pic scored his only win this season, with Brit Adrian Quaife-Hobbs on the second place and Takuya Izawa at third, providing the most surprising podium of the season. In the sprint race, Vandoorne finished first, followed by Palmer and Nasr. At Spa, Vandoorne couldn’t keep the pole throughout the race, giving away the victory to Raffaele Marciello, while in the second leg Felipe Nasr scored a win. In Monza, Vandoorne’s performance was better, as he won both pole and first place, with Arthur Pic and Mitch Evans behind him.

Everything was decided at the Sochi Autodrom, when Jolyon Palmer finished first, securing himself enough points to win the GP2 title. At the podium, behind him, there were Mitch Evans and Raffaele Marciello. Vandoorne settled for the second place in the sprint race, won by Danish driver Marco Srensen. In Abu-Dhabi, Vandoorne won both pole and the race, while the championship winner was the second fastest, with Mitch Evans behind him on the third. In the sprint race, Stefano Coletti was the winner, followed by Felipe Nasr and Arthur Pic.

The final results were the following – driving for DAMS, Jolyon Palmer was the title winner with 276 points, ART Grand Prix driver Stoffel Vandoorne took the second place with 229, while Felipe Nasr of Carlin followed him closely with 224. In teams’ championship, with 349 points DAMS was the first, followed by Carlin (292 points) and ART Grand Prix (255 points).