GP3: Ghiotto takes first victory

Trident driver Luca Ghiotto claimed his first GP3 victory in the feature race at the Red Bull Ring.

The 20-year-old Italian started from pole position, but just as at the start of the feature race in the Barcelona season opener in May, ART Grand Prix's Estaben Ocon got a better launch to jump him at the start.

Seconds later, the safety car was deployed after Mitch Gilbert stalled from 10th position on the grid and was collected by Kevin Ceccon. The impact briefly launched Ceccon's car, which then spun across the track and collected Samin Gomez, all of which led to a lengthy clean-up operation that took four laps to complete.

But at the restart, Ocon locked up and ran wide over the asphalt runoff at the first corner, allowing Ghiotto to close onto his tail. Initially, Ocon held firm, but on the second lap of green-flag racing Ghiotto got ahead on the run to Turn 2. At that point, Ghiotto checked out, gradually pulling a comfortable lead and taking a dominant victory.

Ocon was unable to hold onto second in the face of the charging Ferrari protege Antonio Fuoco, who had taken the restart in sixth place.

Fuoco passed Sandy Stuvik for fifth and later dispatched both Emil Bernstorff and Marvin Kirchhofer on the same lap to climb to third.

With just under six laps remaining, Fuoco than passed Ocon to take second into Turn 2 before pulling away, eventually crossing the line 12 seconds behind Ghiotto.

Ocon held on to third under pressure from Bernstorff, while Nissan-backed Jann Mardenborough climbed from 12th on the grid to take fifth place after also passing Kirchhofer.

Kirchhofer reclaimed sixth from Stuvik on the final lap, with Ralph Boschung earning pole position for Sunday's sprint race in eighth place.

Oscar Tunjo and Alex Fontana completed the top 10. Alex Palou, who started third, finished 14th after plummeting down the order in the seconds of racing before the safety car was deployed.

Originally on Autosport.com