Wickens clinches bizarre Spa victory
Robert Wickens scored perhaps the most bizarre win of his career in a rain-struck opening GP3 race at Spa-Francorchamps this afternoon
The Canadian Status driver rode his luck but arguably played the rules to perfection after a heavy storm hit the track midway through the race.
When the field reached La Source nearly everybody spun, including leader Wickens, who hit the wall hard. But Wickens managed to get going and tiptoe round with a broken nose cone as the safety car came out to restore order.
Wickens then stayed out as everyone else bar Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (Manor) pitted for wets, and thus he retained the lead. That looked a bad call when it was announced that the safety car was coming in with four laps to go, as Wickens would get eaten alive on slicks on a flooded circuit.
But the race time limit was approaching, and Wickens managed to slow the field just enough to ensure that the clock wound down to zero before the pack reached the flag - thus ensuring he took the chequer in first.
A multi-car pile-up at the first corner had earlier ensured the first four laps were run behind the safety car - only two full racing laps were completed.
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Robert Wickens Status 30m10.463s
2. Leonardo Cordeiro MW Arden + 0.395s
3. Pal Varhaug Jenzer + 0.482s
4. Roberto Merhi Atech CRS + 0.519s
5. Esteban Gutierrez ART + 3.957s
6. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Manor + 4.094s
7. Nico Muller Jenzer + 4.215s
8. Daniel Juncadella Tech 1 + 4.957s
9. Dean Smith Carlin + 5.678s
10. Pedro Nunes ART + 6.048s
11. Simon Trummer Jenzer + 7.740s
12. Miki Monras MW Arden + 8.639s
13. Michael Christensen MW Arden + 10.282s
14. Tobias Hegewald RSC Mucke + 10.932s
15. Nigel Melker RSC Mucke + 11.293s
16. Alexander Rossi ART + 24.286s
17. Oliver Oakes Atech CRS + 30.799s
18. Rio Haryanto Manor + 1m50.226s
Retirements:
Antonio Felix da Costa Carlin 6 laps
Renger van der Zande RSC Mucke 6 laps
Ivan Lukashevich Status 6 laps
Felipe Guimaraes Addax 5 laps
Mirko Bortolotti Addax 5 laps
Stefano Coletti Tech 1 1 lap
Daniel Morad Status 0 laps
Josef Newgarden Carlin 0 laps
Vittorio Ghirelli Atech CRS 0 laps
Adrien Tambay Manor 0 laps
Pablo Sanchez Lopez Addax 0 laps
Doru Sechelariu Tech 1 0 laps
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