Lewis Williamson takes maiden GP3 win on home ground at Silverstone

The MW Arden driver, who started from second on the grid, made a terrible getaway and was fourth on the run to Abbey, behind leader Dean Smith (Addax), James Calado (ART) and Nick Yelloly (Atech CRS). But Williamson made a fantastic recovery, passing Yelloly on the way into Abbey and then taking advantage as Smith and Calado compromised each other's lines through Village.

With a clear run, Williamson simply drove around the outside of Calado at The Loop, then lined up Smith into Brooklands. For a moment it looked like they would run three abreast, but as Smith clung to the inside, Williamson drove around the outside of him to grab a lead he would never give up.

He pulled away to a five-second victory, as Smith clung tenaciously to second, repelling Calado's early advances.

As in race one yesterday, the man to watch was Alexander Sims (Status) who charged from fifth to third, grabbing the championship lead as he did so. After an early clash with Manor driver Rio Haryanto at Vale, he passed Yelloly for fourth at Brooklands on lap seven, and the pulled off a brilliant lunge down the inside of Calado at Vale on lap 12 to put himself on the podium.

Haryanto also passed Calado for fourth at Brooklands, while Yelloly just failed to catch Calado by the flag and was forced to settle for sixth.

Other unsung stars of the race were Nigel Melker (Mucke), who charged from the back of the grid to eighth, and Manor's Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, who was forced to start from the pits instead of fifth when his car stalled on the dummy grid. He recovered to finish 15th.

Sims now leads the points by three points from Mitch Evans, who was a first lap retirement when his MW Arden car broke down after charging up to fifth in the opening corners.

Results - 14 laps:

Pos  Driver                  Team         Time/Gap
 1.  Lewis Williamson        MW Arden   26m51.435s
 2.  Dean Smith              Addax        + 5.090s
 3.  Alexander Sims          Status       + 7.202s
 4.  Rio Haryanto            Manor        + 8.178s
 5.  James Calado            ART         + 11.238s
 6.  Nick Yelloly            Atech CRS   + 11.619s
 7.  Conor Daly              Carlin      + 12.080s
 8.  Nigel Melker            RSC Mucke   + 13.051s
 9.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Status      + 14.660s
10.  Simon Trummer           MW Arden    + 20.947s
11.  Nico Muller             Jenzer      + 22.574s
12.  Valtteri Bottas         ART         + 23.987s
13.  Michael Christensen     RSC Mucke   + 25.338s
14.  Gabby Chaves            Addax       + 30.864s
15.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs     Manor       + 32.965s
16.  Zoel Amberg             Atech CRS   + 35.349s
17.  Pedro Nunes             ART         + 37.013s
18.  Aaro Vainio             Tech 1      + 38.579s
19.  Luciano Bacheta         RSC Mucke   + 39.642s
20.  Tamas Pal Kiss          Tech 1      + 41.457s
21.  Thomas Hylkema          Tech 1      + 41.759s
22.  Vittorio Ghirelli       Jenzer      + 42.038s
23.  Leonardo Cordeiro       Carlin      + 45.566s
24.  Ivan Lukashevich        Status      + 49.993s

Retirements:

     Tom Dillmann            Addax         13 laps
     Marlon Stockinger       Atech CRS      8 laps
     Matias Laine            Manor          3 laps
     Mitch Evans             MW Arden       0 laps