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Abu Dhabi GP3: Tio Ellinas holds off Dean Stoneman for win

Tio Ellinas won the final GP3 race of 2013 in Abu Dhabi, fending off single-seater returnee Dean Stoneman

Ellinas's repeat of his 2012 season finale win for Manor meant he bookended his season with only his second victory of the year, having won the Barcelona opener too.

He grabbed the lead at the start as poleman Patrick Kujala made a slow getaway.

By lap five Ellinas had extended a 3.4-second lead over Stoneman, who leapt up to second at the start in his Koiranen car.

But Ellinas's early-race charge took most of the life out of his tyres, and Stoneman caught him with two laps to go.

Despite struggling with severe tyre degradation in the closing laps, Ellinas clung on to his lead, crossing the line just a fifth of a second ahead of Stoneman, who was making his first single-seater start after his return from beating cancer.

From the AUTOSPORT archive: Stoneman back from the brink of death

Conor Daly just held off ART team-mate Jack Harvey for third, Daly having passed Kujala off the start and Harvey battling past him at Turn 2 on lap two.

Daniil Kvyat produced a champion's drive to charge from eighth to fifth, passing Nick Yelloly at Turn 7 on lap three and then pulling a great move on Kujala at Turn 11 two laps later.

Yelloly got stuck behind Kujala for six laps, as his Carlin car appeared to lack the top speed of the Koiranen machine, but got past with a brilliantly improvised move at Turn 14, and team-mate Alexander Sims also took the opportunity to leap past too. They finished sixth and seventh.

Dino Zamparelli made it two Manor cars in the points in eighth, as Kujala tumbled to 19th.

Erstwhile title contender Facu Regalia had a few off-track adventures on the way to a subdued 16th, with the penalised Carlos Sainz Jr also struggling from the back of the grid, finishing 18th.

Results - 14 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team        Time/Gap
 1.  Tio Ellinas          Manor     27m59.709s
 2.  Dean Stoneman        Koiranen     +0.293s
 3.  Conor Daly           ART          +0.774s
 4.  Jack Harvey          ART          +1.231s
 5.  Daniil Kvyat         MW Arden     +1.865s
 6.  Nick Yelloly         Carlin       +5.507s
 7.  Alexander Sims       Carlin       +7.964s
 8.  Dino Zamparelli      Manor       +16.528s
 9.  Giovanni Venturini   Trident     +16.726s
10.  Alex Fontana         Jenzer      +17.149s
11.  Robert Visoiu        MW Arden    +17.894s
12.  Kevin Korjus         Koiranen    +21.765s
13.  Robert Cregan        Trident     +22.332s
14.  Emanuele Zonzini     Trident     +22.676s
15.  Patric Niederhauser  Jenzer      +23.253s
16.  Facu Regalia         ART         +24.575s
17.  Luis Sa Silva        Carlin      +26.509s
18.  Carlos Sainz Jr      MW Arden    +27.365s
19.  Patrick Kujala       Koiranen    +34.660s
20.  Alice Powell         Bamboo      +36.238s
21.  Adderly Fong         Status      +41.130s
22.  Josh Webster         Status      +44.113s
23.  Samin Gomez          Jenzer      +49.861s
24.  Carmen Jorda         Bamboo      +49.498s
25.  Ryan Cullen          Manor     +1m09.299s
26.  Jimmy Eriksson       Status    +1m22.070s

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