Hulkenberg inherits Brands win

Bianchi started from pole, and led comfortably into Paddock as Hulkenberg got too much wheelspin. Koudai Tsukakoshi (Manor) almost got past Hulkenberg around the outside of the first corner, while behind all hell let lose as James Jakes (ART) and Sam Bird (Manor) collided, sending Bird into a spin in front of the pack and out of the race.

Bianchi quickly pulled out a lead as Hulkenberg was struggling to get his tyres up to pressure without overheating the rears. Bianchi was 3 seconds up when he was shown the drive-through penalty board, as the race steward judged that he had improved his laptime under waved yellow flags. He was the first of six drivers to be penalised in this manner.

Bianchi pitted at half distance and rejoined seventh. He quickly dealt with sixth-placed Christian Vietoris at Druids, but when he tried to repeat the move on teammate Jakes a few laps later, he took both of them out into the gravel.

Hulkenberg, meanwhile, couldn't believe his luck and cruised to his fifth victory of the year. Tsukakoshi was 6 seconds behind at the flag, but well clear of third-placed Yann Clairay (SG), who leapt up from seventh on the grid at the start when he went around the Bird/Jakes clash.

Edoardo Mortara was a gutsy fourth for Signature, and the first of the VW-powered cars home. He just held off Vietoris as his tyres faded badly in the closing stages - a vital results as he bids to stay within reach of Hulkenberg's title lead.

Renger van der Zande (Prema) finished sixth, ahead of Signature duo Franck Mailleux and Jean Karl Vernay, who lock out the reverse grid front row for tomorrow's race.

Classified:

Pos  Driver            Make                Time
 1.  Nico Hulkenberg   Dallara/Mercedes    40:38.243
 2.  K.Tsukakoshi      Dallara/Mercedes    +   5.966
 3.  Yann Clairay      Dallara/Mercedes    +  20.718
 4.  Edoardo Mortara   Dallara/Volkswagen  +  21.707
 5.  C.Vietoris        Dallara/Mercedes    +  22.396
 6.  R.van der Zande   Dallara/Mercedes    +  24.409
 7.  Franck Mailleux   Dallara/Volkswagen  +  26.202
 8.  Jean-Karl Vernay  Dallara/Volkswagen  +  27.106
 9.  Jon Lancaster     Dallara/Mercedes    +  27.728
10.  H.Waldschmidt     Dallara/Mercedes    +  27.997
11.  Jens Klingmann    Dallara/Volkswagen  +  1 Lap
12.  Erik Janis        Dallara/Mercedes    +  1 Lap
13.  Niall Breen       Dallara/Mercedes    +  1 Lap
14.  Daniel Campos     Dallara/Mercedes    +  1 Lap
15.  Richard Philippe  Dallara/Mercedes    +  1 Lap
16.  Cheng Cong Fu     Dallara/Volkswagen  +  1 Lap
17.  Daniel Clos       Dallara/Mercedes    +  1 Lap
18.  Rodolfo Gonzalez  Dallara/Mercedes    +  1 Lap
19.  Martin Plowman    Dallara/Volkswagen  +  1 Lap
20.  Stefano Coletti   Dallara/Mercedes    +  2 Laps
21.  Mika Maki         Dallara/Mercedes    +  4 Laps
22.  James Jakes       Dallara/Mercedes    +  6 Laps
23.  Jules Bianchi     Dallara/Mercedes    +  6 Laps

Not classified:

     Driver            Make               Laps
     Kazuya Oshima     Dallara/Mercedes    19
     Basil Shaaban     Dallara/Mercedes     9
     Sam Bird          Dallara/Mercedes     0

Fastest lap: Bianchi, 42.599