Quaife-Hobbs powers to debut AutoGP win in first race at Monza

The Super Nova racer was forced to contend with intermittent gearbox problems, but only relinquished his lead during the mandatory pitstop phase of the 14 lap race.

Reigning Italian Formula 3 champion Sergio Campana followed Quaife-Hobbs, a former GP3 race winner, closely throughout but was unable to stage an overtaking attempt.

Running with newcomer MLR71, Campana suffered a tardy getaway from the lights but recovered two positions to move into second under braking for the first chicane.

"It was a hard race," said a delighted Quaife-Hobbs. "I had the same gearbox problem as on Friday. It was fine for the first couple of laps when I made a break at the front, but having broken the tow, which is so important at Monza, my advantage was negated in one moment when it refused to shift up.

"I had to lift off and wait two seconds for the battery to charge it up and then get going. That was when Sergio got very close, but fortunately it only did that once."

Campana conceded a 1.4s margin to Quaife-Hobbs at the chequered flag, but was comfortably clear of former GP2 driver Pal Varhaug in third.

Norwegian Varhaug was slightly delayed at the start when front row starter Sergey Sirotkin stalled. The Euronova driver eventually received a push to finish the race a lap down.

Sirotkin later came close to unwittingly influencing the race during the pitstop sequence. The Russian momentarily held up Quaife-Hobbs at the first chicane, but Quaife-Hobbs recovered the lost time by setting purple sector times over the remainder of the lap.

Dutchman Daniel de Jong survived a slightly wild opening couple of laps among the frontrunners to take fourth place, two seconds clear of Campos Racing's Facundo Regalia. On lap one, de Jong took the escape road at Turn 1, dropping from fifth to seventh, but swiftly recovered ground.

De Jong's Manor MP Motorsport team-mate Chris van der Drift completed the top six. The Kiwi was on course for fourth, but lost considerable time by running wide and into the gravel at the Parabolica on lap four.

The 16 car field safely negotiated the stalled Sirotkin at the start, but there was minor contact in the midfield which prompted five cars to opt for caution and take the Turn 1 escape road.

Ombra Racing's Formula 3 graduate Adderly Fong and Quaife-Hobbs' team-mate Victor Guerin both suffered front wing damage during incidents.

The push-to-pass power boost button was dropped for the opening round of the season on precautionary advice from engine suppliers Zytek against running the car for extended periods on the rev limiter. The feature is scheduled to be introduced at the forthcoming round at Valencia.

Race 1 Result - 14 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team             Time/Gap

 1.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs  Super Nova     23m37.782s
 2.  Sergio Campana       MLR71            + 1.499s
 3.  Pal Varhaug          Virtuosi UK      + 4.800s
 4.  Daniel de Jong       Manor MP        + 11.480s
 5.  Facu Regalia         Campos          + 13.444s
 6.  Chris van der Drift  Manor MP        + 22.896s
 7.  Giacomo Ricci        Zele            + 27.137s
 8.  Maxim Snegirev       Campos          + 28.245s
 9.  Antonio Spavone      Euronova        + 32.073s
10.  Giancarlo Serenelli  Ombra           + 40.862s
11.  Michele la Rosa      MLR71           + 54.340s
12.  Giuseppe Cipriani    Campos        + 1m27.688s
13.  Adderly Fong         Ombra             + 1 lap
14.  Sergey Sirotkin      Euronova          + 1 lap
15.  Victor Guerin        Super Nova       + 2 laps