Turvey takes first FR3.5 win in Monaco

The Penrith resident, on his rookie appearance in the principality, held off sustained pressure from Adrian Zaugg to win by 0.6 seconds.

"It has been a trouble-free weekend since touching the barrier with about two laps of free practice left on Thursday," said Turvey. "I knew where the limit was, my last lap in qualifying was a great lap and that set up the victory.

"I was just looking in my mirrors and controlling the race, I don't think Zaugg was ever really close enough to make a move. It's amazing to win here in front of the Formula 1 teams."

Front row qualifier James Walker was jumped by Zaugg away from the start. Although the P1 Motorsport driver initially shadowed the South African, Walker dropped back and settled for third over the final laps.

Championship leader Marcos Martinez was forced to retire from fourth place with rear brake trouble, promoting Ultimate Motorsport's Miguel Molina into the position. Molina headed a closely fought six-car train, but there was to be no overtaking among the group.

Second in the standings entering the weekend, Draco's Bertrand Baguette added to his points tally with fifth place.

There was bitter luck for Pasquale di Sabatino after one of the strongest runs of the Italian's three year Formula Renault 3.5 tenure ended when his RC Motorsport machine came to a halt on the entry to the Swimming Pool.

The visibly dejected di Sabatino's misfortune allowed British Formula 3 champion Jaime Alguersuari up to sixth place. Alguersuari had made a stellar start from 10th on the grid to leapfrog Epsilon Euskadi's pairing of Adrian Valles and Chris van der Drift on the opening lap.

Red Bull Formula 1 reserve driver Brendon Hartley was upset to be hit by two drivethrough penalties for cutting Monaco's chicane, despite his protestations that he had backed off after each occasion. The Kiwi, taking part in his final confirmed race with Tech 1 Racing, salvaged some honour by setting a resounding fastest lap.

Fellow F3 Euro Series racer Jules Bianchi started from the pitlane in his debut, and likely only, appearance with SG Formula. The Frenchman's race ended after sustaining right rear suspension damage from clipping the barriers on the exit of the final part of the Swimming Pool.

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Oliver Turvey Carlin 39m24.975s 2. Adrian Zaugg Interwetten + 0.661s 3. James Walker P1 + 3.595s 4. Miguel Molina Ultimate + 8.288s 5. Bertrand Baguette Draco + 9.337s 6. Jaime Alguersuari Carlin + 10.039s 7. Chris van der Drift Epsilon + 10.431s 8. Adrian Valles Epsilon + 11.123s 9. Charles Pic Tech 1 + 11.462s 10. Stefano Coletti Prema + 13.856s 11. Sten Pentus Fortec + 21.570s 12. John Martin Comtec + 24.496s 13. Greg Mansell Ultimate + 24.948s 14. Julian Leal Prema + 29.017s 15. Fairuz Fauzy Fortec + 33.215s 16. Marco Barba Draco + 37.923s 17. Brendon Hartley Tech 1 + 43.753s 18. Federico Leo Pons + 58.671s 19. Max Chilton Comtec +1m15.452s 20. Anton Nebylitskiy SG +1m20.321s 21. Filip Salaquarda RC + 1 lap Retirements: Jules Bianchi SG 16 laps Pasquale di Sabatino RC 11 laps Marcos Martinez Pons 7 laps Daniil Move P1 0 laps Mihai Marinescu Interwetten 0 laps