GP3 Red Bull Ring: Luca Ghiotto takes maiden victory

The 20-year-old Italian started from pole position, but just as at the start of the feature race in the Barcelona season-opener in May, ART Grand Prix's Estaben Ocon got a better launch to jump him at the start.

Seconds later, the safety car was deployed after Mitch Gilbert stalled from 10th position on the grid and was collected by Kevin Ceccon.

The impact briefly launched Ceccon's car, which then spun across the track and collected Samin Gomez - all of which led to a lengthy clean-up operation that took four laps to complete.

But at the restart, Ocon locked up and ran wide over the asphalt runoff at the first corner, allowing Ghiotto to close onto his tail.

Initially, Ocon held firm, but on the second lap of green-flag racing Ghiotto got ahead on the run to Turn 2.

At that point, Ghiotto checked out, gradually pulling a comfortable lead and taking a dominant victory.

Ocon was unable to hold onto second in the face of the charging Ferrari protege Antonio Fuoco, who had taken the restart in sixth place.

Fuoco passed Sandy Stuvik for fifth and later dispatched both Emil Bernstorff and Marvin Kirchhofer on the same lap to climb to third.

With just under six laps remaining, Fuoco than passed Ocon to take second into Turn 2 before pulling away, eventually crossing the line 12 seconds behind Ghiotto.

Ocon held on to third under pressure from Bernstorff, while Nissan-backed Jann Mardenborough climbed from 12th on the grid to take fifth place after also passing Kirchhofer.

Kirchhofer reclaimed sixth from Stuvik on the final lap, with Ralph Boschung earning pole position for Sunday's sprint race in eighth place.

Oscar Tunjo and Alex Fontana completed the top 10. Alex Palou, who started third, finished 14th after plummeting down the order in the seconds before the safety car was deployed.

RESULTS - 24 LAPS:

Pos	Driver	Team	Gap
1	Luca Ghiotto	Trident	38m25.156s
2	Antonio Fuoco	Carlin	11.958s
3	Esteban Ocon	ART Grand Prix	12.641s
4	Emil Bernstorff	Arden International	13.437s
5	Jann Mardenborough	Carlin	19.335s
6	Marvin Kirchhofer	ART Grand Prix	19.709s
7	Sandy Stuvik	Status Grand Prix	28.749s
8	Ralph Boschung	Jenzer Motorsport	29.462s
9	Oscar Tunjo	Trident	33.071s
10	Alex Fontana	Status Grand Prix	34.521s
11	Pal Varhaug	Jenzer Motorsport	36.069s
12	Matheo Tuscher	Jenzer Motorsport	39.669s
13	Matt Parry	Koiranen GP	40.589s
14	Alex Palou	Campos Racing	42.534s
15	Alfonso Celis	ART Grand Prix	42.934s
16	Alex Bosak	Arden International	43.331s
17	Adderly Fong	Koiranen GP	43.848s
18	Zaid Ashkanani	Campos Racing	44.126s
19	Seb Morris	Status Grand Prix	48.713s
20	Jimmy Eriksson	Koiranen GP	1 Lap
21	Artur Janosz	Trident	2 Laps
-	Mitch Gilbert	Carlin	Collision
-	Samin Gomez	Campos Racing	Collision
-	Kevin Ceccon	Arden International	Collision

RACE TWO GRID:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Ralph Boschung	Jenzer Motorsport	-	-
2	Sandy Stuvik	Status Grand Prix	-	-
3	Marvin Kirchhofer	ART Grand Prix	-	-
4	Jann Mardenborough	Carlin	-	-
5	Emil Bernstorff	Arden International	-	-
6	Esteban Ocon	ART Grand Prix	-	-
7	Antonio Fuoco	Carlin	-	-
8	Luca Ghiotto	Trident	-	-
9	Oscar Tunjo	Trident	-	-
10	Alex Fontana	Status Grand Prix	-	-
11	Pal Varhaug	Jenzer Motorsport	-	-
12	Matheo Tuscher	Jenzer Motorsport	-	-
13	Matt Parry	Koiranen GP	-	-
14	Alex Palou	Campos Racing	-	-
15	Alfonso Celis	ART Grand Prix	-	-
16	Alex Bosak	Arden International	-	-
17	Adderly Fong	Koiranen GP	-	-
18	Zaid Ashkanani	Campos Racing	-	-
19	Seb Morris	Status Grand Prix	-	-
20	Jimmy Eriksson	Koiranen GP	-	-
21	Artur Janosz	Trident	-	-
22	Mitch Gilbert	Carlin	-	-
23	Samin Gomez	Campos Racing	-	-

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GP3 Red Bull Ring: Luca Ghiotto takes maiden victory

Trident driver Luca Ghiotto claimed his first GP3 victory in the feature race at the Red Bull Ring