Gutierrez extends points lead with win
Esteban Gutierrez extended his GP3 Series points lead with a lights-to-flag win in today's feature race at the Valencia street circuit
The ART driver's victory never looked under serious threat, and he was able to cross the line a comfortable 2.4s clear of Status Robert Wickens, who had enjoyed a similarly uneventful run to second. Roberto Merhi completed the podium for the Atech CRS GP squad.
None of the top order were placed under too much stress, with Jean-Eric Vergne being the only one needing to keep an eye on his mirrors when Miki Monras made a late but unsuccessful push for fourth. Rio Haryanto was sixth ahead of Nico Muller.
The only point-scorer who saw genuine action was Manor's James Jakes, who worked his way through the field to put himself into contention for eighth, and then sealed it with a move on Tobias Hegewald a couple of laps before the end.
As was the case with the GP2 race, the field was thinned somewhat by accidents on the opening lap, the most notable being the Turn 1 crash that launched Felipe Guimaraes into the air after he ran into Nigel Melker.
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Esteban Gutierrez ART 28m00.338s 2. Robert Wickens Status + 2.484s 3. Roberto Merhi Atech CRS + 8.699s 4. Jean-Eric Vergne Tech 1 + 11.634s 5. Miki Monras MW Arden + 12.030s 6. Rio Haryanto Manor + 20.832s 7. Nico Muller Jenzer + 21.415s 8. James Jakes Manor + 23.335s 9. Tobias Hegewald RSC Mucke + 29.646s 10. Stefano Coletti Tech 1 + 30.534s 11. Pal Varhaug Jenzer + 32.402s 12. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Manor + 33.021s 13. Simon Trummer Jenzer + 33.624s 14. Pablo Sanchez Lopez Addax + 34.886s 15. Pedro Nunes ART + 36.526s 16. Ivan Lukashevich Status + 45.654s 17. Dean Smith Carlin + 45.871s 18. Mirko Bortolotti Addax + 48.341s 19. Daniel Morad Status + 49.230s 20. Vittorio Ghirelli Atech CRS + 52.013s 21. Lucas Foresti Carlin + 53.293s Retirements: Michael Christensen MW Arden 3 laps Felipe Guimaraes Addax 0 laps Doru Sechelariu Tech 1 0 laps Josef Newgarden Carlin 0 laps Alexander Rossi ART 0 laps Renger van der Zande RSC Mucke 0 laps Leonardo Cordeiro MW Arden 0 laps Nigel Melker RSC Mucke 0 laps Oliver Oakes Atech CRS 0 laps
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