Moscow FR3.5: Roberto Merhi claims first victory

The ex-Mercedes DTM racer put in a storming opening couple of laps to drive away from the chasing pack, and from there he managed the gap until the first pitstops.

He lost nearly three seconds during the stops to the chasing Pierre Gasly, allowing the Frenchman to close to just over a second adrift of the leader.

However, Merhi then set about pulling away with ease for the rest of the race, crossing the line nearly seven seconds clear of the Red Bull junior, giving his Russian-owned Zeta team a 'home' win.

Arden driver Gasly had pinched second from a slow-starting Richie Stanaway when the lights went out, as the Lotus driver moved to the inside to block an attack from Oliver Rowland.

Stanaway attacked Gasly on the outside into the final corner on the opening lap, but the Red Bull junior ran him out of road on the exit and was never threatened again from there.

The Kiwi's fierce defence at the start had Rowland enough to allow race one winner Sergey Sirotkin to pass him for fourth into Turn 2, and the Briton could do nothing about his Fortec team-mate for the remainder of the race.

There was more bad news for Rowland as after the pitstops were complete he had championship leader Carlos Sainz Jr in his mirrors.

The Spaniard made up a couple of places from 11th on the grid at the start, and he took advantage of an early pitstop to climb up to sixth, minimising the damage inflicted by Gasly and Rowland in the title race.

Results - 30 laps:                         
                                           
Pos  Driver               Team      Time/Gap
 1.  Roberto Merhi        Zeta    41m58.433s        
 2.  Pierre Gasly         Arden      +6.748s
 3.  Richie Stanaway      Lotus     +11.549s
 4.  Sergey Sirotkin      Fortec    +16.428s
 5.  Oliver Rowland       Fortec    +18.960s
 6.  Carlos Sainz Jr      DAMS      +26.171s
 7.  Matias Laine         Strakka   +26.962s
 8.  Zoel Amberg          AVF       +29.092s
 9.  Will Stevens         Strakka   +29.647s
10.  Will Buller          Arden     +32.634s
11.  Marlon Stockinger    Lotus     +34.778s
12.  Meindert van Buuren  Pons      +43.468s
13.  Jazeman Jaafar       ISR       +46.598s
14.  Beitske Visser       AVF       +53.111s
15.  Luca Ghiotto         Draco     +53.793s
16.  Marco Sorensen       Tech 1    +54.150s
17.  Norman Nato          DAMS      +54.697s
18.  Oscar Tunjo          Pons      +57.004s
                                           
Retirements:                               
                                           
     Roman Mavlanov       Zeta       18 laps
     Pietro Fantin        Draco      14 laps