Carlin’s Dan Ticktum converted reverse grid pole to victory at the Sochi Autodrom on Saturday, dominating the delayed Sprint Race 1 in Russia. The race was postponed from Saturday morning to late afternoon, as treacherous conditions forced a deferred start time. Marcus Armstrong came home in 11th while fellow Kiwi Liam Lawson retired out of the race. Lawson made a mistake at Turn 13 while running in third place, damaging the left rear of his car, which forced him to park his car in a run-off area.
Jüri Vips was second on the road and bagged his fifth podium of the 2021 campaign, while Robert Shwartzman enjoyed a strong home race, taking the final podium position on offer in third place.
Ticktum was placed under pressure early in the race by Hitech Grand Prix’s Vips, however the Estonian driver couldn’t make the pass, not risking a move onto the wet surface that existed off the dry racing line.
From there, the Carlin driver pulled out a gap and stayed ahead of the pack to secure his second race win of the season.
Oscar Piastri and Guanyu Zhou remain at the head of the Championship with 153 and 134 points respectively, despite failing to register points in the Sprint Race. Shwartzman has closed the gap and now sits on 123 points ahead of Ticktum on 119 and Vips on 102.
With this weekend’s schedule altered in light of the adverse weather conditions on Saturday morning, Sprint Race 2 will not be held.
Sprint Race 1 Results
1/ Dan Ticktum Carlin
2/ Jüri Vips HitechGP
3/ Robert Shwartzman Prema Powerteam
4/ Jake Hughes HWA Racelab
5/ Theo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix
6/ Ralph Boschung Campos Racing
7/ Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix
8/ Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport
9/ Oscar Piastri Prema Powerteam
10/ Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport
11/ Marcus Armstrong DAMS
12/ Jehan Daruvala Carlin
13/ Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System
14/ Marino Sato Trident
15/ David Beckmann Campos Racing
16/ Roy Nissany DAMS
17/ Enzo Fittipaldi Charouz Racing System
18/ Alessio Deledda HWA Racelab
DNF Liam Lawson HitechGP
DNF Bent Viscaal Trident
DNF Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi
DNF Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi
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