Di Resta takes crucial Le Mans win

Di Resta not only won the race, despite starting down in fifth, but Vettel spun a third place away and was unable to recover the eighth position he needed to salvage Sunday's reverse grid pole. Di Resta now leads the title race by 83 points to 69 with three races remaining.

Vettel will now start tomorrow's race in ninth, one place behind di Resta, further limiting his point-scoring potential.

The race was hectic, and lost pole sitter Giedo van der Garde (ASM) before the start when his driveshaft failed on the warm-up lap.

The start was a messy affair, as an attempt to run three-abreast into the Dunlop chicane failed.

Substitute poleman Sebastien Buemi lost his advantage in the scramble, and tried to make up for it by punting Romain Grosjean (Signature) into a spin across the first corner gravel. Jonathan Summerton (Mucke) should have led, but he was delayed by their accident, allowing di Resta to slingshot into the lead.

Di Resta drove a superbly controlled race to win with ease over Summerton. Vettel should have been third, having pulled a brave pass on Guillaume Moreau (Signature) to get there from 11th on the grid (he suffered a five-place grid penalty for a transgression in a previous race). But his spin at the last corner on lap eight dropped him to 11th.

Vettel fought back to ninth, but just could not find a way past an obstinate Richard Antinucci (HBR), who takes pole for Sunday's race.

Moreau inherited third, ahead of Signature team-mate Charlie Kimball, with Manor team-mates Kohei Hirate and Esteban Guerrieri next up.

Results

Pos  Driver              Team                      Time
 1.  Paul di Resta       ASM                  39:59.914
 2.  Jonathan Summerton  Mucke Motorsport       + 1.025
 3.  Guillaume Moreau    Signature-Plus         + 7.619
 4.  Charlie Kimball     Signature-Plus        + 10.162
 5.  Kohei Hirate        Manor Motorsport      + 17.519
 6.  Esteban Guerrieri   Manor Motorsport      + 18.401
 7.  Michael Herck       Bas Leinders JRT      + 12.593
 8.  Richard Antinucci   HBR Motorsport        + 32.001
 9.  Sebastian Vettel    ASM                   + 32.711
10.  Tim Sandtler        Signature-Plus        + 33.278
11.  Kazuki Nakajima     Manor Motorsport      + 36.162
12.  Sebastien Buemi     Mucke Motorsport      + 40.219
13.  Natacha Gachnang    Jo Zeller Racing      + 52.871
14.  Ronayne O'Mahony    Prema Powerteam       + 53.942
15.  Alejandro Nunez     Prema Powerteam       + 54.793
16.  Paolo Nocera        Prema Powerteam     + 1:02.606
17.  Filip Salaquarda    Team ISR            + 1:05.161
18.  Cemil Cipa          HBR Motorsport      + 1:33.249
19.  Julien Abelli       Janiec Racing Team     + 1 lap
20.  Anthony Janiec      Janiec Racing Team     + 1 lap
21.  Romain Grosjean     Signature-Plus         + 1 lap

Fastest lap: Buemi 1:31.222 on lap 23