Alex Lynn cut his way through the spray to take a hard-earned podium finish in the GP2 Series at the Red Bull Ring this weekend (July 1-3), but DAMS team-mate Nicholas Latifi went unrewarded for an eye-catching Sprint Race charge. Feeling confident after free practice, the traffic restricted Lynn to eighth on the 22-strong grid around the Spielberg circuit in a warm and sunny qualifying session, whilst Latifi found himself paying the price for a practice 'off' as he lined up 17th in the FIA's official Formula One feeder series.
In a dramatic Feature Race, Lynn held position over the course of a frenetic opening lap and the Williams Martini Racing Development Driver was well in the mix when he went off as rain began to fall at mid-distance, skating through the Turn 3 gravel trap and narrowly missing Pierre Gasly's stricken car in the process.
After rejoining the track and pitting for wet-weather rubber, the Safety Car appeared, but with the rain only affecting a certain part of the circuit, the tyre change proved to be the wrong call and Lynn was obliged to return to the pits for slicks again, dropping the young Brit to 19th. It was not long before the Safety Car re-emerged, and with one car in the pit-lane exit wall, the red flags flew.
Eight laps remained at the re-start, and Lynn battled through to finish 13th, which subsequently became 11th as a result of a brace of penalties ahead. With even wetter conditions the following day, the Sprint Race got underway behind the Safety Car and the Essex-based GP2 sophomore was immediately a man on the move, advancing to ninth before another brief Safety Car period.
After being forced wide and demoted to 13th at the re-start, Lynn went on a charge and with the rain easing, he sliced through the pack to fifth by lap 15 and subsequently prevailed in a captivating wheel-to-wheel duel with Luca Ghiotto for fourth. Having expertly cooled his tyres, the 22-year-old opportunistically snatched third from Raffaelle Marciello following another Safety Car intervention to tally his second podium finish of 2016. Latifi, meanwhile, had fought his way from 17th to 12th by the time the rain arrived in the Feature Race, but like Lynn, the 21-year-old Canadian made two pit-stops - the first to switch to wet-weather Pirelli and the second to return to slicks. Similarly dropping down the order, he recovered to 12th by the chequered flag, before being promoted to tenth and the final point on offer by post-race penalties. In Sunday's Sprint, Latifi excelled in the tricky, grip-deprived conditions, rising rapidly to seventh before passing Ghiotto and Norman Nato to move into the top five. As the track dried, the Renault F1 Test Driver found his rear tyres dropping off fast and came under attack from a gaggle of cars behind before ultimately spinning into retirement on lap 22. The GP2 Series heads straight from Austria to Britain for its next outing, and Le Mans-based DAMS will speed into Silverstone on July 8-10 placed fifth in the Teams' standings. Lynn and Latifi sit respectively seventh and 13th in the Drivers' table, the former just five points shy of second and 15 adrift of the championship lead. Alex Lynn (11th/3rd) said: "We underperformed in qualifying, and tour strategy didn't pay off in race one; the conditions were quite unusual and it was just as easy to get it wrong in the circumstances as it was to get it right. To start from P11 and finish third in race two was a strong result. The car was really good in the rain and it was great to pocket a podium - it proves that when we do get it right, we can fight at the front. We are still in the hunt this season and I'm looking forward to racing at Silverstone as it is my home round and I usually go quite well there. We need to do what we all want to do - win." Nicholas Latifi (10th/DNF) said: "The accident in free practice set us back in qualifying, I was still trying to find my rhythm while everybody else was pushing, which left us far further down the grid than we should have been. In the Feature Race, the weather conspired against us and even on the Supersoft tyres at the final re-start, we struggled to get temperature into them and they wore out quickly. I had a lot of fun in the Sprint coming through the pack, but in hindsight, I probably pushed my rear tyres too hard and couldn't maintain that rhythm, with the lack of grip pitching me into a spin." François Sicard, Managing Director, said: "Alex had a competitive and well-balanced car in qualifying which had the potential to be on the second row of the grid but he caught traffic, whilst Nicholas' position did not in any way reflect his or the car's level of performance. In race one, we lost a lot of time switching from slick to wet tyres, so that was definitely one to forget. In the Sprint, Alex drove a great race; he was very quick and produced superb overtaking whilst still looking after his tyres. Nicholas also drove very well to get as high as fifth with some fantastic moves, it was a shame that he ultimately spun. Still, Alex's podium saved our weekend and we are back in the championship hunt ahead of his home event at Silverstone."
