GP3: Ghiotto rebounds to beat Ocon at Spa

Championship leader Luca Ghiotto claimed his third GP3 win of the season in a safety car-interrupted race two at Spa.

Trident driver Ghiotto, who started fourth on the grid, lost out to title rival Esteban Ocon at the start as the Mercedes protege swiftly made it up to second from seventh. But Ghiotto made steady progress thereafter and passed Ocon's ART Grand Prix teammate Alfonso Celis Jr. following the safety car restart after a huge incident involving Alex Bosak.

Polesitter Bosak suffered a similar tire blowout to the one Mercedes Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg suffered in free practice two. As he was coming round Blanchimont his tire appeared to blister and burst, sending him into the tire wall. On impact, a loose tire bounced onto the track and hit the helpless Matt Parry, damaging his front wing.

Ghiotto was closing in on Ocon after passing Celis but would have to wait until the next safety car restart to make the move stick. This time the safety car was deployed for an incident between Ferrari protege Antonio Fuoco and ART driver Marvin Kirchhofer. The pair were fighting over fifth when they made contact into Les Combes. The collision caused Fuoco to spin across the track where he collided with Kirchhofer again and Artur Janosz.

On the restart Ghiotto was instantly hassling Ocon and passed him down the Kemmel straight, before repeating the move again on Campos Racing driver Alex Palou the following lap for the lead. Soon after, Ocon followed Ghiotto past Palou on the outside of Les Combes to take second, and Celis also passed the Spaniard late on to take his first podium finish.

Palou's fall down the order to fifth was complete when Matheo Tuscher, who had contact with his Jenzer Motorsport teammate Ralph Boschung at the Bus Stop chicane earlier in the race, took fourth in the closing stages.

Status Grand Prix driver Alex Fontana drove a clean race ahead of Janosz and Boschung, who collided at the Bus Stop chicane. Koiranen GP's Adderly Fong briefly capitalized on this before falling back to ninth, Pal Varhaug rounded out the top 10.

Race one winner Emil Bernstorff failed to repeat his success after breaking his suspension in a collision at La Source, forcing him to retire.

RESULTS - 13 LAPS:

Originally on Autosport.com