Pau European F3: Felix Rosenqvist cruises to first win of 2014

The Swede got the jump on slow-starting poleman Esteban Ocon and, while the Frenchman always stayed within reach, he never got close enough to challenge until a safety car appearance.

On the restart with nine laps to go, Ocon's Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes got into the slipstream of Rosenqvist's Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Merc, and drew to the outside entering Virage de la Gare, but that was the closest he got to a bid for the lead.

Ocon's slow getaway allowed Max Verstappen to spear up the inside, before the Lotus Formula 1 Junior swung across to defend, forcing the Dutchman to brush the barriers on the inside.

That dropped Verstappen to sixth, and on the second lap he crashed at the second chicane.

Tom Blomqvist moved into third place and came under early pressure from the sister Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen machine of Jake Dennis before drawing away.

Mitch Gilbert put in his best performance yet with the Fortec Motorsport squad.

An early attack from Lucas Auer came to nothing as the two led Dennis van de Laar; Auer tried again after the safety car, but there was no way by.

Completing the top 10 in a largely uneventful race were John Bryant-Meisner, Jordan King and Antonio Giovinazzi.

The safety car was caused by Michele Beretta, who hit the barriers at the Foch chicane.

                                                                   
Results - 29 laps:                                                   
                                                                        
Pos  Driver              Team/Car                           Time/Gap
 1.  Felix Rosenqvist    Mucke Dallara-Mercedes           36m02.050s    
 2.  Esteban Ocon        Prema Dallara-Mercedes              +1.057s    
 3.  Tom Blomqvist       Carlin Dallara-VW                   +2.194s    
 4.  Jake Dennis         Carlin Dallara-VW                   +2.946s    
 5.  Mitch Gilbert       Fortec Dallara-Mercedes             +3.813s    
 6.  Lucas Auer          Mucke Dallara-Mercedes              +4.758s    
 7.  Dennis van de Laar  Prema Dallara-Mercedes              +6.233s    
 8.  Jon Bryant-Meisner  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes             +6.936s    
 9.  Jordan King         Carlin Dallara-VW                   +8.329s    
10.  Antonio Giovinazzi  Carlin Dallara-VW                   +9.181s    
11.  Antonio Fuoco       Prema Dallara-Mercedes             +10.211s    
12.  Felipe Guimares     Double R Dallara-Mercedes          +10.814s    
13.  Felix Serralles     West-Tec Dallara Mercedes          +11.711s    
14.  Jules Szymkowiak    Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW           +13.365s    
15.  Tatiana Calderon    Jo Zeller Dallara-Mercedes         +14.136s    
16.  Roy Nissany         Mucke Dallara-Mercedes             +15.276s    
17.  Ed Jones            Carlin Dallara-VW                  +16.993s    
18.  Hector Hurst        West-Tec Dallara Mercedes          +53.718s    
                                                                        
Retirements:                                                     
                                                                        
     Nicholas Latifi     Prema Dallara-Mercedes              20 laps    
     Michele Beretta     EuroInternational Dallara-Mercedes  16 laps    
     Riccardo Agostini   EuroInternational Dallara-Mercedes  14 laps    
     Sean Gelael         Carlin Dallara-VW                    8 laps    
     Max Verstappen      Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW             1 laps    
     Gustavo Menezes     Van Amersfoot Dallara-VW             1 laps    
     Alexander Toril     T-Sport Dallara-NBE                  0 laps    
     Spike Goddard       T-Sport Dallara-NBE                  0 laps