Pau Grand Prix: Antonio Giovinazzi wins GP title with F3 victory

Italian Giovinazzi therefore extended his lead in the Formula 3 European Championship, with the Carlin-run Jagonya Ayam protege stretching his run to nine podium finishes out of nine this season.

Giovinazzi hounded the Prema Powerteam car of Racing Steps-backed Dennis during the early laps, before the 2012 McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award winner began to pull away.

But going into the final third of the race Giovinazzi began to slash the gap as Dennis started to struggle with his steering, particularly on left-handers.

On the 24^th lap of 28, Giovinazzi ran side by side with Dennis through almost half the lap, before Dennis finally ran wide at the left-hander just after the Foch chicane and conceded the lead.

"It's an amazing sensation for me to win the Pau Grand Prix," said Giovinazzi.

"At first I was driving really safely, but then after about 15 laps I began to push a bit more.

"It was really hard to overtake Jake; it was very tight - I didn't want to crash."

Maximilian Gunther fended off Charles Leclerc throughout the race in the battle for third place, and now the respective Mucke Motorsport and Van Amersfoort Racing machines moved up to challenge Dennis.

They improved to second and third on the following lap when Dennis ran wide at Pont Oscar, F3 rookie Gunther scoring his maiden podium in the category.

Dennis then strenuously tried to defend from Prema team-mate Lance Stroll, this allowing Alessio Lorandi, Arjun Maini and Felix Rosenqvist to all catch up.

Stroll got around the outside of Dennis at Pont Oscar on the penultimate lap to take fourth, while Lorandi got boxed in, allowing Maini through to claim fifth and Rosenqvist sixth.

The next group caught Dennis with a lap to go, with George Russell squeezing through for eighth.

As Sam MacLeod attempted to follow suit, he ran out of room at the Lycee hairpin and skittered out of the points, meaning Mikkel Jensen and Santino Ferrucci completed the scorers.

Stroll had been involved in an early battle with Maini and Alex Albon, clearing both on the same lap before Albon lost three laps in the pits with an electronics problem.

Simultaneously, Markus Pommer gave up his early fifth place with a drive-through penalty for being out of position on the grid.

The race featured only one safety car, which was caused on the drag up the hill on the opening lap when Kang Ling clambered over the rear of Tatiana Calderon and rode scarily along on the back of the Colombian's car before crashing back onto the track.

RACE THREE RESULT

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: