Maki wins delayed Brands race
Mika Maki took his first Formula 3 Euro Series win of the season in the opening race of the weekend at Brands Hatch on Saturday
The Finn, who started second on the grid, snatched the lead from Valtteri Bottas at the start, and then sustained pressure from his countryman throughout the race to take the win.
The race was completed in the afternoon after a long stoppage forced organisers to postpone the restart earlier in the day to allow DTM qualifying to take place on time.
The red flags were put out after Jules Bianchi and Tiago Geronimi had a heavy crash at Paddock Hill Bend, and Maki then made a good restart from behind the safety car when things got back underway several hours later.
Bottas closed in on the Signature driver once in the closing stages, but his challenge faded after he made an error at Graham Hill Bend, which forced him to focus on Christian Vietoris behind.
Vietoris took third from his Mucke Motorsport team-mate Alexander Sims at the start of the race, which means he has made up six points on championship leader Bianchi, reducing the Frenchman's lead to 19.
Sims threatened Vietoris on occasion after the restart, but after trying to pass him around the outside at Druids he was unable to challenge any further.
Behind the two Mucke cars, Christopher Zanella took his best result of the season with fifth, while Sam Bird took sixth place.
The British driver had been seventh for most of the race, but he made an opportunist pass on Esteban Gutierrez in the closing stages after the Mexican ran slightly wide at Paddock Hill Bend.
That means Gutierrez will start from the front row for Sunday's race, with pole position going to Brendon Hartley, who took a lonely eighth place.
The Carlin Motorsport driver had to withstand a few attacks from Roberto Merhi shortly after the restart, but the Manor driver faded after he had a big lock-up at Druids.
Pos Driver Team Car Time/Gap 1. Mika Maki Signature D/V 43m59.183s 2. Valtteri Bottas ART D/M +0.549 3. Christian Vietoris Mucke D/M +1.844 4. Alexander Sims Mucke D/M +5.150 5. Christopher Zanella Motopark D/M +5.870 6. Sam Bird Mucke D/M +6.674 7. Esteban Gutierrez ART D/M +7.089 8. Brendon Hartley Carlin D/V +10.216 9. Roberto Merhi Manor D/M +10.942 10. Jake Rosenzweig Carlin D/V +13.074 11. Cesar Ramos Manor D/M +14.498 12. Adrien Tambay ART D/M +15.014 13. Jean-Karl Vernay Signature D/V +16.197 14. Marco Wittmann Mucke D/M +16.922 15. Henkie Waldschmidt SG D/M +17.552 16. Tim Sandtler Prema D/M +20.179 17. Pedro Nunes Manor D/M +21.190 18. Andrea Caldarelli SG D/M +21.654 19. Johan Jokinen Kolles D/V +22.530 20. Basil Shaaban Prema D/M +26.108 Retirements Nick Tandy Kolles D/V 22 laps Tiago Geronimi Signature D/V 10 laps Jules Bianchi ART D/M 10 laps Atte Mustonen Motopark D/M 3 laps
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