Richie Stanaway wins on GP3 debut at Spa
GP3 newcomer Richie Stanaway took a dominant victory in the second race of the weekend at Spa
The German Formula 3 championship leader led every lap from pole position, taking a comfortable win ahead of his charging team-mate James Calado.
Stanaway lost the lead at the start to fellow front row man Nico Muller (Jenzer), but the ART driver, who only made his GP3 debut this weekend, retook the place on the run from Eau Rouge to Les Combes.
From there he pulled away at an impressive rate, while there was plenty of action behind him.
Calado was at the centre of the action, moving from seventh to fifth on the opening lap. He then passed Addax's Tom Dillmann for fourth on lap three, and followed a stunning move on Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (Manor) into Eau Rouge with another pass at the top of the hill on Muller.
That put him up to second, where he chipped away at the gap to the leader but was never close enough to mount a challenge.
Muller took a comfortable third as Quaife-Hobbs dropped out with mechanical gremlins, while championship leader Valtteri Bottas (ART) was set for fourth until he hit trouble as well.
The Finn eventually dropped to 19th, allowing Calado to slash his points lead to just six points heading into the final weekend at Monza.
With Bottas out of the way, Michael Christensen (Addax) and Simon Trummer (MW Arden) fought over fourth place. Trummer briefly took the position early on the final lap, but it was short-lived as Christensen repassed him at Les Combes.
Results - 12 laps: Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Richie Stanaway ART 26m47.675s 2. James Calado ART + 4.007s 3. Nico Muller Jenzer + 7.126s 4. Michael Christensen RSC Mucke + 16.441s 5. Simon Trummer MW Arden + 17.081s 6. Alex Fontana Jenzer + 19.013s 7. Conor Daly Carlin + 28.056s 8. Ivan Lukashevich Status + 29.348s 9. Rio Haryanto Manor + 32.482s 10. Marlon Stockinger Atech CRS + 32.534s 11. Antonio Felix da Costa Status + 33.189s 12. Zoel Amberg Atech CRS + 36.271s 13. Nick Yelloly Atech CRS + 42.505s 14. Tamas Pal Kiss Tech 1 + 44.434s 15. Maxim Zimin Jenzer + 44.881s 16. Gabby Chaves Addax + 45.707s 17. Daniel Mancinelli RSC Mucke + 46.160s 18. Leonardo Cordeiro Carlin + 46.479s 19. Valtteri Bottas ART + 48.235s 20. Dean Smith Addax + 50.257s 21. Thomas Hylkema Tech 1 + 2m07.765s Retirements: Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Manor 7 laps Tom Dillmann Addax 7 laps Nigel Melker RSC Mucke 2 laps Alexander Sims Status 1 laps Mitch Evans MW Arden 1 laps Aaro Vainio Tech 1 1 laps Callum Macleod Carlin 1 laps Mattias Laine Manor 0 laps Lewis Williamson MW Arden 0 laps
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