Alex Lynn took his third win of the season in Sunday's GP2 sprint race at Yas Marina Circuit, but the result paled in comparison to Pierre Gasly's championship win.
The Frenchman gave himself the best possible chance of taking the crown with victory from pole position in Saturday's race giving him a 12-point advantage over team mate and rival Antonio Giovinazzi.
Though Gasly finished outside the points on Sunday, Giovinazzi was not able to score enough points to make a difference, ending up sixth.
Gasly started eighth after winning on Saturday, with Giovinazzi starting in fourth, but the latter dropped to sixth as the lights went out. A tough race for the Italian included a brush with Artem Markelov, and the two banged wheels towards the end of the race. Both continued, and Giovinazzi was able to maintain the advantage, holding on to four points.
Gasly, who had remained eighth for the duration of the race, was usurped by Mitch Evans late on, missing out on scoring a point in the final race of the season.
Amongst the championship permutations, the leaders of the race were somewhat forgotten, with Alex Lynn building a near-5 second lead over Johnny Cecotto Jr in second. Sergey Sirotkin completed the podium for ART.
After the top three were Nobharu Matsushita, Norman Nato, Giovinazzi, Markelov, and Evans, who completed the points, with Gasly and Jordan King rounding out the top 10.
The final points tally put Gasly on 219, with Giovinazzi just eight points in arrears on 211. It marks Gasly as the second French GP2 champion after Romain Grosjean in 2011.
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