GP3: Dennis wins, Leclerc extends points lead

Arden's Jake Dennis claimed his second GP3 victory by taking the sprint race win at Sepang as ART's Charles Leclerc extended his championship lead over Alexander Albon and Antonio Fuoco.

Polesitter Fuoco made a good start alongside Nirei Fukuzumi, while further down the field Leclerc edged race one winner Albon onto the grass lining the pit straight as he aggressively defended after making a poor getaway from sixth on the grid.

Fuoco and Fukuzumi led into Turn 1 but both locked up and went wide, which allowed Dennis to nip down the inside and seal first place at the apex of Turn 2 as the former leader bounced across the curbs and briefly went airborne.

In the pack behind, Leclerc was able to hold onto seventh place – Jack Aitken had passed him off the line – as Albon slipped back and was edged into ninth by Alessio Lorandi on the exit of Turn 9.

Up front, Dennis edged clear of Fukuzumi as Aitken demoted Fuoco to fourth and the ART title rivals began to suffer contrasting fortunes in the close midfield racing.

Leclerc attacked and passed Campos Racing's Steijn Schothorst to take sixth on the run to Turn 1 as Albon fell further back to 11th.

Koiranen GP's Matt Parry pushed Fuoco down to fifth approaching the halfway mark and the Ferrari Junior driver then slipped into the clutches of Leclerc.

They fought wheel-to-wheel through Sepang's sweeping Turns 5 and 6 before Leclerc finally got the move done at Turn 1 on the following lap to claim fifth place.

Fuoco, who was clearly struggling for grip, pitted for new tires but later pulled into the pits and retired, which leaves him further adrift in the title fight.

The top five ran to the finish in the same order as Dennis beat Fukuzumi to the flag by 3.4s, with Aitken a further 2.2s behind to make it two Arden drivers on the podium.

Nyck de Vries finished sixth, one place behind Leclerc after causing controversy in yesterday's race by hitting his ART teammate, with Arjun Maini coming home seventh for Jenzer Motorsport.

Albon rescued the final point with a series of late passes on Lorandi and Schothorst to claim eighth place, the latter a bold move down the inside at the final corner that involved a light touch with the Campos driver on the exit.

Lorandi and Schothorst completed the top ten ahead of DAMS' Kevin Joerg and Jake Hughes, and their teammate Santino Ferrucci was the only other driver to fail to finish as he pulled out with mechanical trouble just before half distance.

Leclerc now leads Albon by 29 points heading to the final two races of the season in Abu Dhabi.

Originally on Autosport.com