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Abu Dhabi GP3: Jake Hughes completes recovery with Sunday win

Jake Hughes claimed his second GP3 Series win in the final race of the season at the Yas Marina circuit

Starting second having come through from the pitlane to seventh on Saturday, Hughes swept into the lead at the first corner despite being baulked off the line and, a brief challenge from Jack Aitken aside, was afforded a comfortable run to victory.

Reversed grid polesitter Konstantin Tereschenko moved straight across to block off Hughes at the start of the race, allowing Steijn Schothorst and Nirei Fukuzumi the best runs into the opening corner.

But as Fukuzumi ran wide on the inside, Hughes followed a much tidier line to cut past the trio and into the lead, with Aitken following him through into second.

DAMS driver Hughes was forced to defend along the back straight from Aitken, before the safety car was brought out after erstwhile championship challenger Alexander Albon slid into the Tecpro barriers following contact with Tatiana Calderon.

Hughes attempted to make a getaway on the lap four restart, breaking the tow of compatriot Aitken and extending his advantage out to over a second.

And though Arden man Aitken was able to close back to within 0.3 seconds of the race leader in the middle of the race, Hughes then set about gradually adding to his advantage once again in the closing laps to finish a comfortable winner, crossing the line 2.825s clear of Aitken.

Fukuzumi claimed the final podium spot, just about resisting a last-lap attack from Aitken's Arden team-mate Jake Dennis, up from seventh on the grid.

Alex Palou crossed the line fifth, holding onto the place by the finest of margins ahead of Campos team-mates Tereschenko and Schothorst.

Having dropped to eighth on the opening lap, Tereschenko then provided an impressive and entertaining comeback with two well-executed passes on Kevin Jorg and Schothorst to follow up his first points score in the series on Saturday with a second haul a day later.

Behind Schothorst, Jorg held on to the final point ahead of champion Charles Leclerc, who had secured the title a day earlier despite retiring from the opening race.

RESULTS - 14 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Jake Hughes DAMS 30m21.199s
2 Jack Aitken Arden International 2.825s
3 Nirei Fukuzumi ART Grand Prix 7.191s
4 Jake Dennis Arden International 7.471s
5 Alex Palou Campos Racing 8.747s
6 Konstantin Tereschenko Campos Racing 8.774s
7 Steijn Schothorst Campos Racing 9.158s
8 Kevin Jorg DAMS 12.846s
9 Charles Leclerc ART Grand Prix 14.035s
10 Giuliano Alesi Trident 15.909s
11 Nyck de Vries ART Grand Prix 17.639s
12 Matt Parry Koiranen GP 19.946s
13 Akash Nandy Jenzer Motorsport 20.467s
14 Arjun Maini Jenzer Motorsport 20.925s
15 Santino Ferrucci DAMS 21.153s
16 Matevos Isaakyan Koiranen GP 23.085s
17 Antonio Fuoco Trident 23.266s
18 Sandy Stuvik Trident 24.506s
19 Artur Janosz Trident 35.455s
20 Alessio Lorandi Jenzer Motorsport 1m04.408s
- Alexander Albon ART Grand Prix Collision
- Tatiana Calderon Arden International Collision

FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Charles Leclerc 202
2 Alexander Albon 177
3 Antonio Fuoco 157
4 Jake Dennis 149
5 Jack Aitken 146
6 Nyck de Vries 133
7 Nirei Fukuzumi 91
8 Jake Hughes 90
9 Matt Parry 82
10 Arjun Maini 50
11 Ralph Boschung 48
12 Santino Ferrucci 36
13 Steijn Schothorst 36
14 Kevin Jorg 26
15 Alex Palou 22
16 Oscar Tunjo 18
17 Matevos Isaakyan 17
18 Sandy Stuvik 9
19 Konstantin Tereschenko 8
20 Artur Janosz 3
21 Tatiana Calderon 2
22 Giuliano Alesi 1
23 Alessio Lorandi 0
24 Akash Nandy 0
25 Richard Gonda 0
26 Niko Kari 0
27 Mahaveer Raghunathan 0


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