GP3: Hughes completes recovery with victory

Jake Hughes claimed his second GP3 Series win in the final race of the season at the Yas Marina circuit.

Starting second having come through from the pitlane to seventh on Saturday, Hughes swept into the lead at the first corner despite being baulked off the line and, a brief challenge from Jack Aitken aside, was afforded a comfortable run to victory.

Reversed grid polesitter Constantin Tereschenko moved straight across to block off Hughes at the start of the race, allowing Steijn Schothorst and Nirei Fukuzumi the best runs into the opening corner. But as Fukuzumi ran wide on the inside, Hughes followed a much tidier line to cut past the trio and into the lead, with Aitken following him through into second.

DAMS driver Hughes was forced to defend along the back straight from Aitken, before the safety car was brought out after erstwhile championship challenger Alexander Albon slid into the Tecpro barriers following contact with Tatiana Calderon.

Hughes attempted to make a getaway on the lap four restart, breaking the tow of compatriot Aitken and extending his advantage out to over a second. Although Arden man Aitken was able to close back to within 0.3 seconds of the race leader in the middle of the race, Hughes then set about gradually adding to his advantage once again in the closing laps to finish a comfortable winner, crossing the line 2.825s clear of Aitken.

Fukuzumi claimed the final podium spot, just about resisting a last-lap attack from Aitken's Arden teammate Jake Dennis, up from seventh on the grid.

Alex Palou crossed the line fifth, holding onto the place by the finest of margins ahead of Campos team-mates Tereschenko and Schothorst.

Having dropped to eighth on the opening lap, Tereschenko then provided an impressive and entertaining comeback with two well-executed passes on Kevin Jorg and Schothorst to follow up his first points score in the series on Saturday with a second haul a day later.

Behind Schothorst, Jorg held on to the final point ahead of champion Charles Leclerc, who had secured the title a day earlier despite retiring from the opening race.

Originally on Autosport.com