Merhi doubles up at Spielberg

The Spaniard had started the reversed grid race eighth following his victory earlier in the day, and steadily picked off his rivals one by one to make his way to the front.

The manner of Merhi's victory was particularly impressive as with the first two laps of the race being completed at slow speed behind the safety car, the Prema Powerteam driver had just nine laps to do the job.

Fifth by the end of the first racing lap, he overtook Daniel Abt's Signature car for fourth into the Gosser Kurve on lap four and then made the same move on Tom Dillmann's Motopark machine next time around.

Laurens Vanthoor offered little resistance, although Merhi's Prema team-mate Gianmarco Raimondo, who had started from pole, did squeeze the Spaniard a little at the same turn on lap eight as the pair disputed the lead, causing the Canadian to run onto the grass before rejoining third.

It looked like game over next time round for Raimondo, who was rammed up the back by Dillmann at Remus Kurve, causing him to complete the race without a rear wing and forcing his French rival into the pits for a new nose.

All of this action left Signature duo Vanthoor and Abt - both of whom kept their heads in the appalling weather - to finish second and third, albeit 8.8s behind Merhi, who increased his championship lead to 43 points.

His nearest rival, Marco Wittmann, t-boned Nigel Melker at the first corner taken at racing speed, eliminating the Mucke car and earning himself a drive-through penalty. The Siganture driver later pitted for a new nose and finished a lapped 11th.

Kimiya Sato finished a fine fourth for Motopark, ahead of his team-mate Jimmy Eriksson, Daniel Juncadella (Prema) and Raimondo, although Felix Rosenqvist's miserable weekend continued, the Swede finishing only 10th after finding the gravel at the Gosser Kurve.

Results - 11 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                Time/Gap
 1.  Roberto Merhi       Prema Dallara-Merc    21m06.987s
 2.  Laurens Vanthoor    Signature Dallara-VW    + 8.818s
 3.  Daniel Abt          Signature Dallara-VW   + 13.317s
 4.  Kimiya Sato         Motopark Dallara-VW    + 15.112s
 5.  Jimmy Eriksson      Motopark Dallara-VW    + 20.766s
 6.  Daniel Juncadella   Prema Dallara-Merc     + 21.366s
 7.  Gianmarco Raimondo  Prema Dallara-Merc     + 24.428s
 8.  Kuba Giermaziak     Star Dallara-VW        + 28.557s
 9.  Carlos Munoz        Signature Dallara-VW   + 32.188s
10.  Felix Rosenqvist    Mucke Dallara-Merc     + 35.028s
11.  Marco Wittmann      Signature Dallara-VW     + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Tom Dillmann        Motopark Dallara-VW       8 laps
     Nigel Melker        Mucke Dallara-Merc        4 laps