Vietoris wins chaotic Norisring race

The Mucke Motorsport driver spent most of his time ahead of the main action, as he benefited from a collision early on between his team-mates Sam Bird and Alexander Sims, which forced the former out of the race from the lead.

Vietoris then passed Roberto Merhi for the lead shortly after a restart on lap nine, and would hold the top spot all the way to the flag from there. Behind him a crazy race ensued.

Jean-Karl Vernay sustained race-long pressure to take second place, having been under threat from Jules Bianchi for most of the second half of the race. The championship leader had slowly worked his way up from 11th after making a bad start from eighth on the grid.

The pair briefly caught Vietoris in the closing stages, while dropping fourth-placed Merhi with ease. But after another safety car period towards the end, Vietoris made a good restart to get a safe gap.

Following that restart, the final four laps were mayhem. Bianchi passed Vernay for second at the first corner with three laps to go, but a lap later he ran wide at the same place and lost the position.

The championship leader struck back immediately to dive back ahead of Vernay at Turn 2, while Mika Maki, who started 23rd, picked off Merhi for fourth at the same corner.

Merhi took that place back with a lunge at Turn 4, but he would finish outside of the points after running very wide at Turn 2 on the final lap.

Ahead of that incident, Bianchi lost second again by running wide at Turn 1 on the last lap. He then came under pressure from Maki, who got a run on the ART driver out of the final corner, and won a thrilling drag race to the line for third place.

Behind that action, Atte Mustonen took fifth after a solid race, while Tiago Geronimi benefited from the last lap scrambles to take sixth, having started last on the grid.

There was more to come after the race as well, with Maki being handed a time penalty for overtaking under yellow flags, which dropped him out of the top 10, and handed the final podium place back to Bianchi.

Pos  Driver               Team            Car    Time/Gap
 1.  Christian Vietoris   Mucke           D/M  40m44.425s
 2.  Jean Karl Vernay     Signature       D/V   +  3.740s
 3.  Jules Bianchi        ART             D/M   +  4.374s
 4.  Atte Mustonen        Motopark        D/M   +  4.924s
 5.  Tiago Geronimi       Signature       D/V   +  5.687s
 6.  Henkie Waldschmidt   SG              D/M   +  6.363s
 7.  Adrien Tambay        ART             D/M   +  6.459s
 8.  Roberto Merhi        Manor           D/M   +  6.830s
 9.  Matteo Chinosi       Prema           D/M   +  7.286s
10.  Cesar Ramos          Manor           D/M   +  8.733s
11.  Brendon Hartley      Carlin          D/V   +  9.694s
12.  Esteban Gutierrez    ART             D/M   +  9.737s
13.  Kevin Mirocha        HBR             D/M   + 12.448s
14.  Johan Jokinen        Kolles & Heinz  D/V   + 13.258s
15.  Mika Maki            Signature       D/V   + 34.306s
16.  Alexander Sims       Mucke           D/M   +   1 lap
17.  Marco Wittmann       Mucke           D/M   +  2 laps
18.  Jake Rosenzweig      Carlin          D/V   +  3 laps
19.  Basil Shaaban        Prema           D/M   +  4 laps
20.  Pedro Enrique        Manor           D/M   +  7 laps

Retirements:

     Nick Tandy           Kolles & Heinz  D/V  21 laps
     Valtteri Bottas      ART             D/M   7 laps
     Christopher Zanella  Motopark        D/M   5 laps
     Sam Bird             Mucke           D/M   4 laps
     Andrea Caldarelli    SG              D/M   4 laps
     Johnny Cecotto       HBR             D/M   3 laps