Mortara wins Euro Series opener

Series returnee Mortara leapt from fifth to second on the opening lap, and then chased rookie pole-sitter Daniel Juncadella in the early stages before drafting past the Spaniard on lap four.

The ex-GP2 racer had opened out a two-second lead by the end of that lap, but that was as big as his advantage would be as Wittmann moved into second on lap five.

The German, who had not managed a podium finish in his rookie season last year, brought the gap down to as low as 1.4 seconds, before Mortara slowed on the last lap to bring the car home.

Juncadella ran third for most of the race, but as he gradually dropped back from the top two he came under pressure from Alexander Sims, and the British driver snatched the final podium place with three laps remaining.

Roberto Merhi completed the top five a long way adrift of the leaders, while Adrian Quaife-Hobbs completed a strong drive from towards the back of the field to take sixth from Jim Pla on the final lap.

Antonio Felix da Costa took the final point and pole position for Sunday's reversed-grid race with eighth, comfortably ahead of a recovering Valtteri Bottas.

The Finn had made a good start from fourth on the grid, but he was ruled out of contention for victory when he received a drive-through penalty for not lining up correctly in his grid box.

Pos Driver                    Team          Car         Time/Gap
 1. Edoardo Mortara           Signature     D/V       36m15.649s
 2. Marco Wittmann            Signature     D/V           +0.788
 3. Alexander Sims            ART           D/M           +6.036
 4. Daniel Juncadella         Prema         D/M          +10.923
 5. Roberto Merhi             Mucke         D/M          +21.151
 6. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs       Motopark      D/V          +27.346
 7. Jim Pla                   ART           D/M          +28.130
 8. Antonio Felix da Costa    Motopark      D/V          +32.912
 9. Valtteri Bottas           ART           D/M          +38.787
10. Matias Laine              Motopark      D/V          +47.603
11. Nicolas Marroc            Prema         D/M          +54.546

Not classified

    Carlos Munoz              Mucke         D/M           9 laps
    Laurens Vanthoor          Signature     D/V           5 laps