Di Resta extends Euroseries lead

Having seen his title lead trimmed to one point in qualifying by Manor Motorsport rival Esteban Guerrieri, di Resta (ASM) gained his revenge at the start as Guerrieri wheelspun his pole position away.

Di Resta extended a one second lead by the second lap, but it soon became apparent that he didn't have the pace to run away at the front. In fact, the Scot had to concentrate on controlling the race, with any of the pursuing Guerrieri, Romain Grosjean (Signature), Kohei Hirate (Manor) and Sebastien Vettel (ASM) probably able to lay claim to having a faster pace - but there was no way they could show it stuck in the train of cars that were following the leader.

Unless he made a mistake, di Resta would lead until the end, and that's exactly what he did. His lead wavered between 1.3 seconds, courtesy of a mid-race backmarker who balked Guerrieri momentarily, and 0.4 seconds. His win ekes his series lead out to three points over Guerrieri, who stabilises second in the points.

Meanwhile, Giedo van der Garde (ASM) was a spectacular retirement from seventh place when his left-front suspension broke at Turn 1, pitching him into the barrier at high speed. He was uninjured.

To underline how the leaders were compromised by following di Resta, fastest lap was set by Peter Elkmann's Jo Zeller-run Dallara-Opel, who finished last!

The other major talking point of the race was Hirate's mistake on the exit of the quick chicane with eight laps remaining. That allowed Vettel to draw alongside, but Hirate mercilessly put him on the grass at over 100mph - fortunately Vettel stayed in control of his bucking machine. Unsurprisingly, Hirate has been requested for an audience with the race stewards to explain his actions.

Pos  Driver               Team                    Time
 1.  Paul di Resta        ASM Formule 3      40:30.860
 2.  Esteban Guerrieri    Manor Motorsport    +  0.547
 3.  Romain Grosjean      Signature-Plus      +  1.045
 4.  Kohei Hirate         Manor Motorsport    +  1.496
 5.  Sebastian Vettel     ASM Formule 3       +  1.971
 6.  Kazuki Nakajima      Manor Motorsport    +  3.506
 7.  Sebastien Buemi      Mucke Motorsport    + 18.561
 8.  Guillaume Moreau     Signature-Plus      + 19.064
 9.  Richard Antinucci    HBR Motorsport      + 22.796
10.  Charlie Kimball      Signature-Plus      + 33.324
11.  Kamui Kobayashi      ASM Formule 3       + 33.807
12.  Joao Urbano          Prema Powerteam     + 38.753
13.  Alejandro Nunez      Prema Powerteam     + 40.031
14.  Filip Salaquarda     Team ISR            + 45.225
15.  Ronayne O'Mahony     Prema Powerteam     + 46.030
16.  Tim Sandtler         Signature-Plus      + 46.757
17.  Jonathan Summerton   Mucke Motorsport    + 47.249
18.  Julian Theobald      SMS Seyffarth       +  1 lap
19.  Cemil Cipa           HBR Motorsport      +  1 lap
20.  Dominik Schraml      SMS Seyffarth       +  1 lap
21.  Peter Elkmann        Jo Zeller Racing    + 2 laps

NOT CLASSIFIED:
     Driver               Team                 Laps
     Giedo van der Garde  ASM Formule 3          12
     Anthony Janiec       Janiec Racing           2
     Michael Herck        Bas Leinders JRT        0