Gutierrez wins at Hockenheim
Esteban Gutierrez has cruised to his fourth GP3 Series victory of the season in today's sprint race at Hockenheim
The Mexican took the chequered flag behind the safety car, which had been brought out two laps earlier after James Jakes misjudged a passing attempt on Josef Newgarden.
Amazingly, Doru Sechelariu managed to trigger an even later accident by driving into the back of Oliver Oakes while weaving down the main straight under yellows, forcing the field to dodge large pieces of debris as it exited the last corner for the last time.
Gutierrez had jumped Mirko Bortolotti at the start to take third, but his efforts to chase down early leader Daniel Juncadella were delayed by an earlier, lengthy spell under the safety car following a string of opening lap incidents.
When the restart finally came Juncadella tried to break away early, but Gutierrez was able to stay with him. Juncadella posted what was at that point the fastest lap of the race in the first lap under greens in an attempt to shake the Mexican off, but on the following lap he made a mistake in the stadium section that handed Gutierrez the lead.
Juncadella held on to second, while the scrap for third between Felipe Guimaraes and Stefano Coletti was decided when Guimaraes went wide and lost four places shortly before the second and final safety car spell.
Mirko Bortolotti took fourth ahead of yesterday's winner Robert Wickens, with Diego Nunes claiming the final point for sixth.
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Esteban Gutierrez ART 32m14.652s 2. Dani Juncadella Tech 1 +0.357 3. Stefano Coletti Tech 1 +1.110 4. Mirko Bortolotti Addax +1.684 5. Robert Wickens Status +6.404 6. Pedro Nunes ART +7.896 7. Felipe Guimaraes Addax +8.635 8. Alexander Rossi ART +9.532 9. Daniel Morad Status +9.880 10. Michael Christensen MW Arden +12.924 11. Pablo Sanchez Addax +14.841 12. Dean Smith Carlin +15.583 13. Ivan Lukashevich Status +16.593 14. Lucas Foresti Carlin +18.273 15. Miki Monras MW Arden +19.588 16. Vittorio Ghirelli Atech CRS +20.708 17. Nico Muller Jenzer +21.804 18. Doru Sechelariu Tech 1 +23.552 19. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Manor +24.029 20. Josef Newgarden Carlin +25.485 Retirements Oliver Oakes Atech CRS 16 laps James Jakes Manor 13 laps Luis Cordeiro MW Arden 9 laps Nigel Melker Mucke 9 laps Rio Haryanto Manor 1 lap Roberto Merhi Atech CRS 1 lap Renger van der Zande Mucke 0 laps Simon Trummer Jenzer 0 laps Tobias Hegewald Mucke 0 laps Pal Varhaug Jenzer 0 laps
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