GP2 Free Practice report: Sirotkin is the fastest in Austria

After a F1 practice in which Nico Rosberg was the fastest, the GP2 series Red Bull Ring practice went underway around noon and Sergey Sirotkin was the fastest one. Artem Markelov has taken the early lead with 1:23.874, but soon the drivers started pushing their throttle pedals harder and Sergey Sirotkin clocked 1:19.188, but later improved to 1:17.307. Pierre Gasly took the lead with 1:16.863, but Sirotkin returned to the top with 1:16.332.

GP2 championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne did 1:16.063 and went to the first place, leaving Sirotkin and Julian Leal behind him. As the flying laps started, Sirotkin returned to the lead with 1:15.804, but was immediately overtaken by Vandoorne with 1:15.223. Nick Yelloly was half a second behind, and was followed by Mitch Evans and Sirotkin. Mitch Evans went to the lead with 1:15.201, 0.022s in front of Vandoorne. Sirotkin set the new pace with 1:15.142 and increased the lead with 1:14.880 in the very next lap.

Pierre Gasly’s car has broken down and stopped with around eleven minutes to go, which caused a red flag, so all the cars went to the pits. The pitlane was opened with seven to go, but nobody could match Sirotkin’s time. Evans was the second and was followed by Vandoorne, Alexander Rossi and Alex Lynn in top five. Raffaele Marciello was on sixth in front of Gasly, Rio Haryanto, Arthur Pic and Nick Yelloly in top ten. The full table can be seen here: