Eng wins as title rivals collide

Eng lost touch with the Lithuanian in the early stages, falling four seconds back after eight laps. But Vasiliauskas was denied a win which would have revitalised his season when his car succumbed to gearbox problems soon after, forcing his retirement.

But the race's main talking point was a tangle between championship rivals Dean Stoneman and Jolyon Palmer while fighting over third.

After battling his way up from seventh on the grid, Stoneman moved down the inside of Palmer on the approach to Paddock Hill Bend and the pair touched as they squeezed into the entry. The contact unsettled Stoneman's car, which slid wide into Palmer again, pushing him into the gravel and out of the race.

Stoneman continued, having lost third to Tom Gladdis. He tried in vain to regain the place for the rest of the race and was suffering from a delaminating tyre in the closing laps, but he got his podium place back anyway when Vasiliauskas retired.

Gladdis remained in touch with Eng throughout, but never had an opportunity to really threaten the lead and had to focus on Stoneman coming up behind as the race wore on.

Stoneman was later penalised for his role in Palmer's retirement, being handed a 20-second penalty which dropped him to 12th place.

That bumped Will Bratt up to third, with Nicola de Marco, Sergei Afanasiev and Mihai Marinescu completing the top six as things spread out behind the front runners.

Pos Driver                            Time/Gap
 1. Philipp Eng                     31m32.628s
 2. Tom Gladdis                         +0.545
 3. Dean Stoneman                       +3.150 (+20s penalty)
 4. Will Bratt                          +8.267
 5. Nicola de Marco                    +12.041
 6. Sergei Afanasiev                   +12.843
 7. Mihai Marinescu                    +13.733
 8. Armaan Ebrahim                     +14.728
 9. Jack Clarke                        +15.982
10. Ivan Samarin                       +21.154
11. Benjamin Lariche                   +21.594
12. Benjamin Bailly                    +21.765
13. Natalia Kowalska                   +33.426
14. Parthiva Sureshwaren               +45.566
15. Plamen Kralev                      +46.479
16. Ricardo Teixeira                   +46.922
17. Julian Theobald                  +1:03.707

Retirements

    Kazim Vasiliauskas                  9 laps
    Jolyon Palmer                       3 laps