Wickens victorious in final GP3 race

The Status driver made a sensational start from fifth on the grid go into the first corner just behind Roberto Merhi, who had led off the line, and passed the Spaniard on the exit to claim the lead. From there Wickens enjoyed a straightforward run to the chequered flag, claiming the win by a margin of 1.6 seconds.

Carlin's Josef Newgarden had the front row of the grid to himself after polesitter Nigel Melker was relegated to the back for causing the first start to be aborted, but the American was boxed in on the run down to the first chicane and dropped to fourth behind Merhi, Wickens and Mirko Bortolotti.

Bortolotti made short work of Merhi to claim second, and with insufficient pace to challenge Wickens, that is where he remained to the finish. Whether he will keep the place remains to be seen though, with the Italian having positioned his car a good foot ahead of his slot on the grid.

Nico Muller also found a way passed Merhi to claim the final place on the podium, while Newgarden was left in fifth. Miki Monras picked up the final point after triumphing in an entertaining three-way scrap with Daniel Morad and Leonardo Cordeiro.

Newly-crowned champion Esteban Gutierrez was a non-finisher after spinning his ART car through 180 degrees and stalling in the middle of the Parabolica.

Pos  Driver                Team          Time/Gap
 1.  Robert Wickens        Status      26m20.507s
 2.  Mirko Bortolotti      Addax         + 1.618s
 3.  Nico Muller           Jenzer        + 1.939s
 4.  Roberto Merhi         Atech CRS     + 3.040s
 5.  Josef Newgarden       Carlin        + 4.430s
 6.  Miki Monras           MW Arden      + 9.604s
 7.  Daniel Morad          Status       + 12.695s
 8.  Leonardo Cordeiro     MW Arden     + 15.274s
 9.  Oliver Oakes          Atech CRS    + 15.873s
10.  Michael Christensen   MW Arden     + 17.698s
11.  Tobias Hegewald       RSC Mucke    + 18.669s
12.  Pablo Sanchez Lopez   Addax        + 18.860s
13.  Nigel Melker          RSC Mucke    + 25.415s
14.  Ivan Lukashevich      Status       + 26.612s
15.  Alexander Rossi       ART          + 26.664s
16.  Dean Smith            Carlin       + 27.354s
17.  Felipe Guimaraes      Addax        + 27.983s
18.  Doru Sechelariu       Tech 1       + 28.073s
19.  Pal Varhaug           Jenzer       + 28.310s
20.  Stefano Coletti       Tech 1       + 29.703s
21.  Vittorio Ghirelli     Atech CRS    + 39.337s
22.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs   Manor      + 1m04.494s
23.  Rio Haryanto          Manor          + 1 lap
24.  Simon Trummer         Jenzer         + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Pedro Nunes           ART        12 laps
     James Jakes           Manor      10 laps
     Renger van der Zande  RSC Mucke  4 laps
     Esteban Gutierrez     ART        3 laps
     Lucas Foresti         Carlin     2 laps
     Daniel Juncadella     Tech 1     1 lap