Dias wins Snetterton reverse grid race

Rain shortly before the start made the track wet, but a number of drivers gambled on running slick tyres.

Wets were the tyres to have in the early stages though, and poleman Dias (Hitech) used his to good effect to draw away at the front, with fellow front row starter Daisuke Nakajima (Raikkonen Robertson), Carlin's Adriano Buzaid (up from row three) and Felipe Nasr (Raikkonen Robertson) in tow.

Fortec's Daniel McKenzie and Carlin's Jazeman Jaafar completed the leading group of wet runners during the first half of the race, while Dias' Hitech team-mate Will Buller led the charge of the slick-shod chasers in seventh.

Buzaid eased past Nakajima for second on lap eight, just as the slick tyres began to come in to their own. For the last nine of the 18 laps, slicks were the tyres to have and Buller (having already demoted Jaafar when the Malaysian lost time on lap eight), began taking chunks out of the gap to the leaders.

The Northern Irishman began exchanging fastest laps with fellow slick runner James Calado (Carlin), who was running further back inside the top 10. Buller made three places over the final three laps to complete the podium, but ran out of time to catch and pass the leading Brazilian pair of Dias and Buzaid.

Nakajima held on to fourth, ahead of Nasr, McKenzie and a fast-closing Calado. The Racing Steps Foundation driver looked more comfortable on slicks in the tricky conditions than his Red Bull-backed team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne, who finished eighth.

Wet-shod Jaafar clung on to ninth, while Max Snegirev (Fortec) claimed the first point of his F3 career by rounding out the top 10 after Raikkonen Robertson's Carlos Huertas and Carlin's Lucas Foresti were both delayed on the final lap.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Car    Time/Gap
 1.  Gabriel Dias          Hitech               D/V   20m40.081s
 2.  Adriano Buzaid        Carlin               D/V     + 0.393s
 3.  William Buller        Hitech               D/V     + 2.795s
 4.  Daisuke Nakajima      Raikkonen Robertson  D/M     + 4.914s
 5.  Felipe Nasr           Raikkonen Robertson  D/M     + 7.303s
 6.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec               D/M     + 7.887s
 7.  James Calado          Carlin               D/V     + 8.597s
 8.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Carlin               D/V    + 12.305s
 9.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin               D/V    + 20.769s
10.  Maxim Snegirev        Fortec               D/M    + 28.289s
11.  Alex Brundle          T-Sport              D/V    + 28.529s
12.  Lucas Foresti         Carlin               D/V    + 29.018s
13.  Jay Bridger           Litespeed            D/M    + 31.495s
14.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin               D/V    + 35.738s
15.  Oli Webb              Fortec               D/M    + 36.787s
16.  Adderly Fong          Sino Vision          D/M    + 38.677s
17.  Hywel Lloyd           CF/Manor             D/M    + 39.172s
18.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport              D/H    + 40.766s
19.  Carlos Huertas        Raikkonen Robertson  D/M    + 47.035s
20.  James Cole            T-Sport              D/H    + 47.373s
21.  Juan Carlos Sistos    West-Tec             D/H  + 1m01.565s