Sato fights back for Auto GP victory in Austria

Kimiya Sato came from behind to claim his fifth Auto GP victory of the season in race one at the Red Bull Ring.

The Euronova driver squandered his first series pole position and ended up third into the first corner behind Tamas Pal Kiss and Kevin Giovesi.

With Sato struggling to get heat into his tires, Euronova opted to bring him into the pits for his mandatory tyre change after just four laps.

Virtuosi UK shadowed Euronova's move, bringing Kiss in three laps latter, with the Hungarian rejoining just in front of Sato.

Giovesi led until he made his stop after 13 laps, the Italian's FMS Racing entry resuming in fourth.

One lap later, Sato made a successful move on Kiss into Turn 3 and was then able to pull away to secure victory by nearly four seconds.

"I almost stalled the car at the start and struggled early on to warm up the tyres," said Sato.

"I had a good car from the middle of the race to the end and managed to jump Tamas on the inside at Turn 3."

Kiss hung on to second after a late challenge from Virtuosi team-mate Andrea Roda, who finished just three tenths down.

Giovesi maintained fourth place to the end after a challenge from Markus Pommer in the best of the Super Nova entries.

The German driver had started 10th after failing to set a time in Q2 courtesy of an engine sensor problem, but was up to sixth by the end of lap one and fifth by the end of the following lap.

Pommer pitted early like Sato, but a slow stop left little way back despite a string of fastest laps.

Sixth place went to Shinya Michimi in the second of the Euronova entries.