Mortara wins and extends Euro lead

The Signature driver kept the pursuing ART cars of Valtteri Bottas and Alexander Sims at a safe distance throughout the race, meaning that he did not have to resort to any defensive driving at any point.

Bottas, who took up the chase once front row starter Daniel Juncadella served a drivethrough penalty for jumping the start, got the gap down to as little as half a second with a series of fastest laps in the early stages, but he was never close enough to attempt a pass.

Mortara then stretched the lead during the middle of the race, before backing off towards the end.

Sims initially kept the lead pair close as he matched Bottas's pace early on, but the British driver dropped back in the middle of the race on his way to a safe third position.

Behind the top three, home driver Roberto Merhi took a distant fourth, while Laurens Vanthoor completed the top five.

One driver missing from the fight at the front was championship contender Marco Wittmann, who dropped from fifth on the grid to 10th on the opening lap after twice getting forced wide onto the grass in the first few seconds of the race.

The German then went off again on lap six, which damaged his car and left him trailing around at the back.

Ahead of him, Antonio Felix da Costa took sixth for Motopark, ahead of Euro Series debutant Kevin Magnussen.

The Dane will start race two from the front row of the grid, with pole position going to eighth place finisher Nicolas Marroc.

Pos  Driver                  Team       Car    Time/Gap
 1.  Edoardo Mortara         Signature  D/V  30m04.467s
 2.  Valtteri Bottas         ART        D/M    + 0.730s
 3.  Alexander Sims          ART        D/M    + 4.631s
 4.  Roberto Merhi           Mucke      D/M   + 13.610s
 5.  Laurens Vanthoor        Signature  D/V   + 15.904s
 6.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Motopark   D/V   + 21.268s
 7.  Kevin Magnussen         Motopark   D/V   + 23.720s
 8.  Nicolas Marroc          Prema      D/M   + 25.160s
 9.  Daniel Juncadella       Prema      D/M   + 25.574s
10.  Carlos Munoz            Mucke      D/M   + 28.785s
11.  Marco Wittmann          Signature  D/V   + 33.342s

Retirements:

     Matias Laine            Motopark   D/V  14 laps