Jakes wins chaotic race at Pau

The Briton led every lap, finishing ahead of Edoardo Mortara, whose second-place finish moves him into a clear championship lead.

Mika Maki crashed out at the Foch chicane on the second lap, having previously squeezed between Jakes and the armco in a hair-raising start.

But Maki's misdemeanour at Foch wasn't an isolated incident, as the crane operators at Pau had a near-constant supply of wreckage to clear.

In fact, slippery conditions offline helped account for the failure of 20 out of 30 cars to make the finish.

Jon Lancaster registered his first points-finish of the year with a podium. The ART driver started 12th on the grid after a qualifying shunt, and during the race he brushed the barriers at Turn 6.

Contesting with understeer thereafter, Lancaster progressed up the order by making the most of the carnage taking place around him, as well as a fine pass for third on Franck Mailleux at the Lycee hairpin on lap 20.

The first three were covered by just over a second at the finish, but Jakes had an edge on Mortara at the crucial last corner and was able to hold his position.

"I didn't get the greatest start, but we bounced back," said Jakes after the race. "I seemed to be able to carry more speed than Maki through the first corner by taking to the outside, and then I had to stay in front.

"The race was made more difficult when the battery warning light lit up on the third lap. I wondered how long I was going to last. I was short shifting, and behind the safety car was really trying to keep the revs down low, but we came out on top and I couldn't be happier."

Mailleux settled for fourth place ahead of Christian Vietoris, who was delayed when Jean-Karl Vernay misjudged a passing manoeuvre at Lycee. Dani Clos put in an impressive showing to fight his way up from 26th on the grid to sixth place at the finish.

Classified:

Pos  Driver             Make                Time
 1.  James Jakes        Dallara/Mercedes    41:06.198
 2.  Edoardo Mortara    Dallara/Volkswagen  +   0.662
 3.  Jon Lancaster      Dallara/Mercedes    +   1.251
 4.  Franck Mailleux    Dallara/Volkswagen  +   4.584
 5.  C.Vietoris         Dallara/Mercedes    +   6.305
 6.  Daniel Clos        Dallara/Mercedes    +   8.062
 7.  Michael Klein      Dallara/Mercedes    +   8.776
 8.  R.van der Zande    Dallara/Mercedes    +   9.769
 9.  Robert Wickens     Dallara/Volkswagen  +  10.154
10.  Kazuya Oshima      Dallara/Mercedes    +  19.359
11.  K.Tsukakoshi       Dallara/Mercedes    +  4 Laps
12.  Richard Philippe   Dallara/Mercedes    +  7 Laps
13.  Niall Breen        Dallara/Mercedes    +  8 Laps

Not classified:

     Driver             Make                  Laps
     Martin Plowman     Dallara/Volkswagen     17
     Erik Janis         Dallara/Mercedes       17
     Sam Bird           Dallara/Mercedes       17
     Jules Bianchi      Dallara/Mercedes       16
     Yann Clairay       Dallara/Mercedes       11
     Nico Hulkenberg    Dallara/Mercedes       10
     Jean-Karl Vernay   Dallara/Volkswagen      9
     Rodolfo Gonzalez   Dallara/Mercedes        8
     H.Waldschmidt      Dallara/Mercedes        7
     Charlie Kimball    Dallara/Mercedes        6
     Daniel Campos      Dallara/Mercedes        5
     Cheng Cong Fu      Dallara/Volkswagen      3
     Tom Dillmann       Dallara/Mercedes        3
     Maximilian Götz    Dallara/Volkswagen      3
     Mika Maki          Dallara/Mercedes        2
     Jens Klingmann     Dallara/Volkswagen      1
     Basil Shaaban      Dallara/Mercedes        1