Stockinger wins shortened GP3 race as Daly survives horrendous crash

The American driver escaped unhurt from the crash, which saw him launched high into the air at the chicane approach after contact with Dimitry Suranovich.

Status driver Stockinger held the lead from pole and resisted constant pressure from Carlin's Antonio Felix da Costa, as the two stormed away from their rivals while running absolutely together.

Their battle was truncated on lap 11 out of 18 when Daly's crash happened. The Lotus driver had managed to get up to 12th place from 23rd on the grid with a storming first lap, but then got stuck behind Suranovich. The Manor car lost its rear wing in their fraught battle, yet somehow continued in front of Daly.

It all came to a head on the fast run out of the tunnel on the 11th lap, when Daly was launched into the air over the back of Suranovich's car, making contact with the top of the debris fence on the harbour side before crashing back down onto the track.

While Daly emerged unhurt, the fencing had been damaged in the accident and the decision was taken to show the red flags after several laps behind the safety car.

Daly was the second driver to take to the air during the race. Carlin duo Will Buller and Alex Brundle and Status' Alice Powell tried to go three-abreast through Sainte Devote on lap one, but made contact, flipping Buller's car upside down. Brundle had to park with damage, while Powell required a pitstop for repairs.

That incident also caused a safety car, leaving few laps of green flag running in between crashes.

Behind Stockinger and da Costa, Lotus's Daniel Abt completed the podium, chased by MW Arden team-mates Mitch Evans and David Fumanelli, Ocean's Kevin Ceccon, race one winner Aaro Vainio (Lotus), Manor's Tio Ellinas, Friday podium finisher Tamas Pal Kiss (Atech CRS) and Jenzer driver Robert Visoiu.

Results - 13 laps:

Pos  Driver                  Team          Time/Gap
 1.  Marlon Stockinger       Status      21m37.673s
 2.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Carlin        + 0.687s
 3.  Daniel Abt              Lotus         + 1.820s
 4.  Mitch Evans             MW Arden      + 2.685s
 5.  David Fumanelli         MW Arden      + 3.651s
 6.  Kevin Ceccon            Ocean         + 5.337s
 7.  Aaro Vainio             Lotus         + 6.266s
 8.  Tio Ellinas             Manor         + 7.090s
 9.  Tamas Pal Kiss          Atech CRS     + 7.762s
10.  Robert Visoiu           Jenzer        + 9.055s
11.  Dimitry Suranovich      Manor      + 1m10.884s
12.  Robert Cregan           Ocean      + 1m11.405s
13.  Vicky Piria             Trident    + 1m12.105s
14.  John Wartique           Atech CRS  + 1m12.710s
15.  Antonio Spavone         Trident    + 1m13.514s
16.  Patric Niederhauser     Jenzer     + 1m14.329s
17.  Matias Laine            MW Arden   + 1m15.267s
18.  Fabiano Machado         Manor      + 1m16.582s
19.  Ethan Ringel            Atech CRS  + 1m17.725s
20.  Jakub Klasterka         Jenzer     + 1m18.420s
21.  Kotaro Sakurai          Status     + 1m19.123s
22.  Carmen Jorda            Ocean      + 1m19.910s
23.  Alice Powell            Status     + 1m20.504s

Retirements:

     Conor Daly              Lotus          10 laps
     Alex Brundle            Carlin          0 laps
     Will Buller             Carlin          0 laps