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GP3 Spa: Maiden win for Jack Aitken in incident-packed race two

Jack Aitken claimed his first GP3 victory in a Spa race interrupted by three safety cars and a string of collisions

The 2015 Formula Renault Eurocup and ALPS champion swiftly picked his way forward from fourth on the grid, making up one place off the line then overtaking Santino Ferrucci on the Kemmel Straight.

Aitken repeated that move on reverse-grid polesitter Matevos Isaakyan next time around and controlled the race from there to give Arden its first GP3 victory of 2016.

Antonio Fuoco made some inroads on fellow Ferrari protege Charles Leclerc's championship lead as he came through to second for Trident, ahead of Ferrucci and Isaakyan.

Saturday winner Leclerc was pipped for fifth on the final lap by Jake Dennis, who again showed very strong late-race pace for Arden.

The race's first big incident was tidied without the need for a safety car, marshals able to quickly clear Tatiana Calderon's crash after she was spat from the pack into the barriers approaching La Source.

But a full course caution period was declared necessary when a puncture from contact sent Konstantin Tereschenko off the road a lap later.

The fraught restarts triggered more incidents, starting with Jake Hughes and Matt Parry colliding at Les Combes - their second tangle of the weekend after they and Arjun Maini crashed together at La Source on the opening lap of race one.

Nirei Fukuzumi then prompted the final safety car when he sent Kevin Jorg into the barriers in a very similar collision shortly after the second restart.

Title contender Alexander Albon could only finish 10th, but was lucky to make it to the flag at all after being tipped onto two wheels at the Bus Stop by Maini.

Despite nearly rolling and then landing heavily, Albon's ART car was healthy enough to continue to the finish.

RACE TWO RESULT

Pos Driver Team Laps Gap
1 Jack Aitken Arden International 13 31m56.599s
2 Antonio Fuoco Trident 13 1.769s
3 Santino Ferrucci DAMS 13 5.820s
4 Matevos Isaakyan Koiranen GP 13 7.207s
5 Jake Dennis Arden International 13 7.708s
6 Charles Leclerc ART Grand Prix 13 8.436s
7 Steijn Schothorst Campos Racing 13 9.345s
8 Nyck de Vries ART Grand Prix 13 9.851s
9 Artur Janosz Trident 13 11.614s
10 Alexander Albon ART Grand Prix 13 12.363s
11 Alex Palou Campos Racing 13 14.531s
12 Giuliano Alesi Trident 13 15.919s
13 Akash Nandy Jenzer Motorsport 13 16.579s
14 Niko Kari Koiranen GP 13 17.591s
15 Nirei Fukuzumi ART Grand Prix 13 23.275s
16 Arjun Maini Jenzer Motorsport 13 25.372s
17 Sandy Stuvik Trident 12 1 Lap
- Kevin Jorg DAMS 8 Retirement
- Matt Parry Koiranen GP 5 Retirement
- Jake Hughes DAMS 5 Retirement
- Konstantin Tereschenko Campos Racing 2 Retirement
- Tatiana Calderon Arden International 1 Retirement
- Oscar Tunjo Jenzer Motorsport 0 Not started

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Pos Driver Points
1 Charles Leclerc 161
2 Antonio Fuoco 139
3 Alexander Albon 125
4 Nyck de Vries 81
5 Matt Parry 70
6 Jack Aitken 65
7 Jake Dennis 63
8 Jake Hughes 52
9 Ralph Boschung 48
10 Nirei Fukuzumi 43
11 Santino Ferrucci 34
12 Arjun Maini 32
13 Oscar Tunjo 18
14 Matevos Isaakyan 17
15 Steijn Schothorst 16
16 Alex Palou 13
17 Kevin Jorg 13
18 Sandy Stuvik 8
19 Artur Janosz 2
20 Tatiana Calderon 1
21 Giuliano Alesi 1
22 Akash Nandy 0
23 Richard Gonda 0
24 Konstantin Tereschenko 0
25 Niko Kari 0
26 Mahaveer Raghunathan 0

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