Stoffel Vandoorne’s domination of the 2015 GP2 Series season continued on Friday as he eased to his sixth win of the season in Bahrain.
GP2 returned to Bahrain this weekend to make up for the cancellation of the races supporting the German Grand Prix, appearing on the undercard of the FIA World Endurance Championship finale.
Despite having the championship already won, Vandoorne arrived in Bahrain keen to replicate his perfect display in the opening race of the season when he was victorious from pole position.
The Belgian was forced to settle for second on the grid behind Pierre Gasly, but got the jump on the Frenchman on the first lap to take the lead.
Vandoorne spent the early stage of the race with an advantage of around two seconds over Gasly, but managed to increase his lead to over 12 seconds by pushing towards the end of his first stint.
After re-emerging from the pits in the lead, Vandoorne eased home for his sixth win of the year ahead of teammate Nobuharu Matsushita, who had made a longer first stint give him the chance to push late on. The one-two finish saw ART Grand Prix wrap up the GP2 teams’ championship.
Russian Time’s Mitch Evans completed the podium, but was fortunate to make it that far after being hit by American driver Alexander Rossi with seven laps to go. Rossi sustained front wing damage and was forced to pit before eventually finishing down in 18th position.
Williams development driver Alex Lynn will start Saturday’s sprint race from pole after finishing eighth on Friday.