Soucek extends lead with victory

The 24-year-old Spaniard went into the race 22 points clear of Robert Wickens and 24 clear of Julien Jousse, and extended that advantage with a faultless win from pole position.

Soucek's good start from pole allowed him to sweep cleanly into Turn 1, just before multiple incidents behind him wiped out several of his rivals.

Wickens thought better of fighting fellow Red Bull driver Mirko Bortolotti too hard when the Italian threw his car down the inside to regain second place, but his caution backfired as he turned in and was hit from behind by Tobias Hegewald. That knocked Wickens into a spin and Hegewald then clipped and punctured Julien Jousse's left rear tyre, while Milos Pavlovic clipped Wickens' car.

Mikhail Aleshin was then thrown in the air after tangling with Carlos Iaconelli, and Philipp Eng and Natacha Gachnang repeated the move behind.

Following a safety car period while the debris was cleared, Soucek led away from Bortolotti, Kazim Vasiliauskas, Sebastian Hohenthal and Jack Clarke.

Soucek steadily increased his lead to more than six seconds as the race wore on, setting a fastest lap eighth tenths of a second faster than anyone else's best along the way. The win moves him 31 points clear at the top of the standings, with only 50 still available.

Clarke was picked off by Iaconelli and Aleshin shortly before Hohenthal spun out of fourth place, while Wickens had to begin his comeback drive from 16th.

The Canadian charged through the pack, making contact with Gachnang and Armaan Ebrahim along the way. He was in the midst of trying to take seventh place from Clarke on the last lap when the race was stopped early.

Ollie Hancock, on his F2 debut, ran as high as seventh at the safety car restart, but spun out of 10th place and was stranded broadside across the track.

Pos  Driver                 Time/Gap
 1.  Andy Soucek          38m15.756s
 2.  Mirko Bortolotti        +6.466s
 3.  Kazim Vasiliauskas     +11.169s
 4.  Carlos Iaconelli       +17.794s
 5.  Mikhail Aleshin        +18.747s
 6.  Nicola de Marco        +19.217s
 7.  Jack Clarke            +28.770s
 8.  Robert Wickens         +29.351s
 9.  Armaan Ebrahim         +34.990s
10.  Ollie Hancock          +37.245s
11.  Natacha Gachnang       +37.626s
12.  Edoardo Piscopo        +38.238s
13.  Henri Karjalainen      +40.863s
14.  Jason Moore            +45.933s
15.  Jolyon Palmer          +46.433s
16.  Tom Gladdis            +48.289s
17.  Sebastian Hohenthal     +2 laps

Retirements:

     Pietro Gandolfi         20 laps
     Alex Brundle            10 laps
     German Sanchez           4 laps
     Julien Jousse            0 laps
     Milos Pavlovic           0 laps
     Tobias Hegewald          0 laps
     Philipp Eng              0 laps
     Jens Hoing               0 laps