Melker claims race 1 win at Zandvoort

The polesitter did not react as quickly as his Mucke Motorsport team-mate Felix Rosenqvist at the start, and was beaten to Tarzan by the Swede.

But, after following in Rosenqvist's wheeltracks, Melker took advantage of a slow exit from Bocht 8 by his rival and brilliantly out-braked him around the outside of the S-Bocht on lap four to re-take a lead that he would not lose.

Rosenqvist gamely hung on to his team-mate, but crucially lost time when he locked up under braking for Tarzan on lap 16 and cost himself around a second.

That was all the invitation Melker needed to open up a three-second gap, which was slightly less than his overall margin of victory.

Rosenqvist fell back into the clutches of Roberto Merhi, who had leapt up from seventh to third by the first corner, but had enough to keep the Prema car behind him and complete the Mucke squad's second one-two finish of the season.

Behind Merhi, who increased his championship lead to 24 points, the top five was completed by Laurens Vanthoor's Signature car and Daniel Juncadella (Prema), while Carlos Munoz was a long way back in sixth.

Marco Wittmann's title hopes took another blow when he tangled with his Signature team-mate Daniel Abt on the opening lap, pitching the latter into the Armco and leading to his retirement with damaged front right suspension.

Wittmann was given a drive-through penalty for causing the accident, dropping him to 10th by the finish.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1. Nigel Melker        Mucke Dallara-Merc      39m57.29s
 2. Felix Rosenqvist    Mucke Dallara-Merc       + 3.300s
 3. Roberto Merhi       Prema Dallara-Merc       + 4.026s
 4. Laurens Vanthoor    Signature Dallara-VW     + 4.511s
 5. Daniel Juncadella   Prema Dallara-Merc       + 5.340s
 6. Carlos Munoz        Signature Dallara-VW    + 19.423s
 7. Kimiya Sato         Motorpark Dallara-VW    + 30.660s
 8. Gianmarco Raimondo  Motorpark Dallara-VW    + 31.049s
 9. Jimmy Eriksson      Motopark Dallara-VW     + 31.194s
10. Marco Wittmann      Signature Dallara-VW    + 32.230s

Retirements:

     Kuba Giermaziak     Star Dallara-VW          11 laps
     Daniel Abt          Signature Dallara-VW       1 lap