Barcelona GP3: Dean Stoneman takes first series victory
Cancer survivor Dean Stoneman scored his first victory in the GP3 Series in race two at Barcelona after a tense duel with Jenzer's Matheo Tuscher
Overnight rain made the track very slippery in the early stages on Sunday morning, but all 27 cars started the race on slick tyres, and Marussia Manor driver Stoneman proved how slick the racing surface was when he spun while warming his tyres on the warm-up lap.
Poleman Tuscher led from the start, but Stoneman was right on his tail over the opening lap. Stoneman made a lunge at Turn 4 on lap two, and Tuscher's attempt to fight back included contact at Turn 5, but they got away with it.
From there, Stoneman pulled away during the middle of the race, though a safety car period gave Tuscher the chance to respond in the closing stages.
A slight mistake by Tuscher over the kerbs at the chicane on the penultimate lap sealed the deal, and Stoneman scored an emotional 0.9s win as he continues to re-establish his single-seater career after it was interrupted by testicular cancer treatment.
Behind Tuscher, Dino Zamparelli (ART) held off the challenge of Kiwi Richie Stanaway (Status) to make it two Britons on the podium.
Marvin Kirchhofer finished fifth for ART after a great battle with yesterday's podium finisher Jimmy Eriksson. Nick Yelloly just fell short of a top-six finish, with fellow Briton Emil Bernstorff in eighth after starting at the back of the grid.
Yesterday's winner Alex Lynn made a good start to run sixth initially, but tumbled down the order from Turn 1 and finished the opening lap in 15th. He gambled on a switch to wet weather tyres during the brief safety car period, but trailed home in 18th.
Results - 15 laps: Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Dean Stoneman Manor 30m14.777s 2. Matheo Tuscher Jenzer +0.925s 3. Dino Zamparelli ART +1.802s 4. Richie Stanaway Status +3.275s 5. Marvin Kirchhofer ART +3.740s 6. Jimmy Eriksson Koiranen +6.294s 7. Nick Yelloly Status +6.668s 8. Emil Bernstorff Carlin +7.303s 9. Patric Niederhauser Arden +10.665s 10. Luis Sa Silva Carlin +15.987s 11. Robert Visoiu Arden +16.714s 12. Adderly Fong Jenzer +17.941s 13. Santiago Urrutia Koiranen +43.010s 14. Jann Mardenborough Arden +45.167s 15. Beitske Visser Hilmer +46.998s 16. Ryan Cullen Manor +53.140s 17. Victor Carbone Trident +1m06.000s 18. Alex Lynn Carlin +1m26.118s 19. Alex Fontana ART +1m34.572s 20. Ivan Taranov Hilmer +1m43.432s 21. Roman de Beer Trident +2 laps Retirements: Carmen Jorda Koiranen 8 laps Pal Varhaug Jenzer 6 laps Alfonso Celis Jr Status 6 laps Danis Nagulin Trident 3 laps Nelson Mason Hilmer 2 laps Patrick Kujala Manor 1 lap
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