Ocon wins GP3 opener comfortably

Mercedes junior Esteban Ocon claimed victory on his GP3 debut in the opening round of the 2015 championship at Barcelona.

The ART Grand Prix driver made a better start from second on the grid than Trident's Luca Ghiotto, who started on pole, to take the lead into Turn 1. Ocon then pulled away at the front, extending a lead of almost five seconds over Ghiotto before the safety car was deployed, eradicating his lead. This was a result of a clash between Seb Morris and Ralph Boschung at Turn 10, which left both cars stricken, at half-distance.

The race got back underway with seven laps to go, and Ocon re-asserted himself at the front with a strong restart, completing the first green-flag lap after the interruption 1.6s clear of Ghiotto. He controlled the gap, eventually crossing the line 3.3s clear of the Italian, who only just held off third-placed Emil Bernstoff on the run to the line – with the top three remaining unchanged all race.

Although the top six was stable before the safety car, with Alfonso Celis Jr. initially holding fourth place, things changed in the closing stages of the race as some struggled with tire degradation.

Nissan protege Jann Mardenborough, who was ninth at the restart, immediately started making up positions by passing Alex Palou for eighth. By the end of the race, he had scythed his way through to fourth, passing Marvin Kirchhofer and Jimmy Eriksson, who rounded out the top six, as well as the fading Celis and Matheo Tuscher.

Kevin Ceccon climbed the order after the safety car to take seventh ahead of Ferrari junior Antonio Fuoco, who came through from 21st place after ending qualifying in the gravel, with Alex Fontana ninth.

Sandy Stuvik finished 10th, although he is part of an investigation into a potential pass under the safety car involving Pal Varhaug, who ran seventh early on but plummeted down the order to finish 21st.

Originally on Autosport.com