Tyre gamble earns Tambay Spa victory

When a shower hit the circuit mid-way through the race, the Manor driver - who started the race 27th - elected to stay out on his dry-weather tyres as everyone else pitted, thus earning himself a lead of over 10 seconds.

Those who had pitted quickly reeled him in and were on his tail with three laps to go, but by that stage the circuit was drying and thus coming to Tambay.

Wet-shod Nico Muller (Jenzer) kept the pressure on Tambay, however, as there was very little in it between slicks and wets in the closing stages. Alex Rossi (ART) took over second place on the penultimate lap, but he too could not find a way past the determined Tambay.

Neither Esteban Gutierrez (ART) nor Robert Wickens (Status) scored points today, so Wickens retains a slim chance of taking the title at Monza in two weeks.


Pos Driver                   Team          Time/Gap
 1. Adrien Tambay            Manor       30m11.408s
 2. Alexander Rossi          ART             +0.445
 3. Miki Monras              MW Arden        +1.203
 4. Dean Smith               Carlin          +2.788
 5. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs      Manor           +3.107
 6. Nico Muller              Jenzer          +6.131
 7. Esteban Gutierrez        ART            +12.160
 8. Tobias Hegewald          Mucke          +13.837
 9. Felipe Guimaraes         Addax          +18.197
10. Oliver Oakes             Atech CRS      +19.794
11. Robert Wickens           Status         +25.499
12. Antonio Felix da Costa   Carlin         +29.444
13. Ivan Lukashevich         Status         +34.677
14. Mirko Bortolotti         Addax          +39.355
15. Nigel Melker             Mucke          +50.443
16. Daniel Morad             Status         +57.444
17. Pal Varhaug              Jenzer       +1:08.290
18. Rio Haryanto             Manor        +1:19.228
19. Pedro Nunes              ART          +1:28.189
20. Doru Sechelariu          Tech 1       +1:40.900
21. Josef Newgarden          Carlin       +1:56.218
22. Roberto Merhi            Atech CRS       +1 lap
23. Michael Christensen      MW Arden        +1 lap
24. Stefano Coletti          Tech 1          +1 lap
25. Pablo Sanchez            Addax           +1 lap

Retirements

    Dani Juncadella          Tech 1         11 laps
    Simon Trummer            Jenzer          5 laps
    Renger van der Zande     Mucke           0 laps
    Leonardo Cordeiro        MW Arden        0 laps
    Vittorio Ghirelli        Atech CRS       0 laps