Abu Dhabi GP3: Jake Hughes completes recovery with Sunday win
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 Konstantin 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.
And though 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 team-mate 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.
RESULTS - 14 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jake Hughes | DAMS | 30m21.199s |
2 | Jack Aitken | Arden International | 2.825s |
3 | Nirei Fukuzumi | ART Grand Prix | 7.191s |
4 | Jake Dennis | Arden International | 7.471s |
5 | Alex Palou | Campos Racing | 8.747s |
6 | Konstantin Tereschenko | Campos Racing | 8.774s |
7 | Steijn Schothorst | Campos Racing | 9.158s |
8 | Kevin Jorg | DAMS | 12.846s |
9 | Charles Leclerc | ART Grand Prix | 14.035s |
10 | Giuliano Alesi | Trident | 15.909s |
11 | Nyck de Vries | ART Grand Prix | 17.639s |
12 | Matt Parry | Koiranen GP | 19.946s |
13 | Akash Nandy | Jenzer Motorsport | 20.467s |
14 | Arjun Maini | Jenzer Motorsport | 20.925s |
15 | Santino Ferrucci | DAMS | 21.153s |
16 | Matevos Isaakyan | Koiranen GP | 23.085s |
17 | Antonio Fuoco | Trident | 23.266s |
18 | Sandy Stuvik | Trident | 24.506s |
19 | Artur Janosz | Trident | 35.455s |
20 | Alessio Lorandi | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m04.408s |
- | Alexander Albon | ART Grand Prix | Collision |
- | Tatiana Calderon | Arden International | Collision |
FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Charles Leclerc | 202 |
2 | Alexander Albon | 177 |
3 | Antonio Fuoco | 157 |
4 | Jake Dennis | 149 |
5 | Jack Aitken | 146 |
6 | Nyck de Vries | 133 |
7 | Nirei Fukuzumi | 91 |
8 | Jake Hughes | 90 |
9 | Matt Parry | 82 |
10 | Arjun Maini | 50 |
11 | Ralph Boschung | 48 |
12 | Santino Ferrucci | 36 |
13 | Steijn Schothorst | 36 |
14 | Kevin Jorg | 26 |
15 | Alex Palou | 22 |
16 | Oscar Tunjo | 18 |
17 | Matevos Isaakyan | 17 |
18 | Sandy Stuvik | 9 |
19 | Konstantin Tereschenko | 8 |
20 | Artur Janosz | 3 |
21 | Tatiana Calderon | 2 |
22 | Giuliano Alesi | 1 |
23 | Alessio Lorandi | 0 |
24 | Akash Nandy | 0 |
25 | Richard Gonda | 0 |
26 | Niko Kari | 0 |
27 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | 0 |
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