Kvyat claims first GP3 win

Daniil Kvyat scored his first GP3 Series victory in a race at Spa-Francorchamps that was blighted by safety cars.

Kvyat outdragged MW Arden teammate and poleman Carlos Sainz Jr into La Source, and was followed past him by Conor Daly (ART) from fourth. The race was then almost immediately neutralized for a tail-ender shunt at the first corner. That restart was almost over before it began, as more crashing at La Source brought out the safety car again.

At the third attempt, Kvyat had to fend off an attack from Daly into Les Combes, but kept his American rival well covered. He then pulled out a decent gap, as Daly found it a struggle to follow him closely.

Behind them, Sainz was defending third from Jack Harvey in a battle that all went wrong on the Kemmel Straight on lap 10. Harvey drew alongside, and moved over to try to intimidate the Spaniard, who stayed resolutely on his line. Contact between them speared Harvey into a spin, the ART car hitting the barrier on his right before cannoning back across the track into another big impact, which tore the back of his car off.

The race finished under the safety car, with Kvyat winning from Daly, new points leader Facu Regalia, Kevin Korjus and Alexander Sims.

Former series leader Tio Ellinas fought back to eighth, and reversed-grid pole, after stalling at the start due to a throttle problem.