New Zealand's Richie Stanaway soaked up race-long pressure and a late attack to win the GP2 sprint race in Russia, with Rio Haryanto second and Raffaele Marciello third.
The New Zealand driver Richie Stanaway. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Just off the podium the McLaren test driver Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne finished fourth, to collect the 2015 Drivers' Championship for the Formula One feeder series.
The win was set up at the start when the New Zealander made a great getaway from second spot on the grid to slice past poleman Arthur Pic.
The Frenchman fought back but couldn't deny Stanaway and Haryanto, with a safety car period caused when Sergey Sirotkin spun Dean Stoneman into retirement, as Rene Binder and Marlon Stockinger came together behind them.
When the race went live again a few laps later the order at the front was Stanaway from Haryanto, Pic, Pierre Gasly, Marciello, Vandoorne and Alexander Rossi: the lead pair were able to pull away as the rest of the field looked for a way past Pic.
Gasly had a big push and looked like he'd done the job, but the Red Bull tester ran too deep and clouted the kerb, dropping back to sixth and undoing his good work.
Vandoorne claimed the Drivers' Championship with two rounds remaining from Alexander Rossi, 277.5 points to 169.5, with Haryanto on 126 points and Sirotkin on 121, while in the Teams' Championship ART still leads the way from Racing Engineering, 328 points from 215.5, ahead of Campos on 186 points, DAMS on 172 and Rapax on 141 ahead of the next round in Bahrain.
