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GP3 Barcelona: Esteban Ocon takes commanding race one win

Mercedes junior Esteban Ocon claimed victory on his GP3 debut in the opening round of the 2015 championship at Barcelona

The ART Grand Prix driver made a better start from second on the grid than Trident's Luca Ghiotto, who started on pole, to take the lead into Turn 1.

Ocon then pulled away at the front, extending a lead of almost five seconds over Ghiotto before the safety car was deployed, eradicating his lead.

This was a result of a clash between Seb Morris and Ralph Boschung at Turn 10, which left both cars stricken, at half-distance.

The race got back underway with seven laps to go, and Ocon re-asserted himself at the front with a strong restart, completing the first green-flag lap after the interruption 1.6s clear of Ghiotto.

He controlled the gap, eventually crossing the line 3.3s clear of the Italian, who only just held off third-placed Emil Bernstoff on the run to the line - with the top three remaining unchanged all race.

Although the top six was stable before the safety car, with Alfonso Celis Jr initially holding fourth place, things changed in the closing stages of the race as some struggled with tyre degradation.

Nissan protege Jann Mardenborough, who was ninth at the restart, immediately started making up positions by passing Alex Palou for eighth.

By the end of the race, he had scythed his way through to fourth, passing Marvin Kirchhofer and Jimmy Eriksson, who rounded out the top six, as well as the fading Celis and Matheo Tuscher.

Kevin Ceccon climbed the order after the safety car to take seventh ahead of Ferrari junior Antonio Fuoco, who came through from 21st place after ending qualifying in the gravel, with Alex Fontana ninth.

Sandy Stuvik finished 10th, although he is part of an investigation into a potential pass under the safety car involving Pal Varhaug, who ran seventh early on but plummeted down the order to finish 21st.

NEWS UPDATE: Stuvik loses debut point as penalties issued

RESULTS - 22 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Esteban Ocon ART Grand Prix 39m27.125s
2 Luca Ghiotto Trident 3.368s
3 Emil Bernstorff Arden International 3.509s
4 Jann Mardenborough Carlin 14.456s
5 Marvin Kirchhofer ART Grand Prix 18.771s
6 Jimmy Eriksson Koiranen GP 22.621s
7 Kevin Ceccon Arden International 23.386s
8 Antonio Fuoco Carlin 23.919s
9 Alex Fontana Status Grand Prix 25.532s
10 Alfonso Celis ART Grand Prix 30.304s
11 Zaid Ashkanani Campos Racing 30.383s
12 Alex Palou Campos Racing 30.529s
13 Matt Parry Koiranen GP 30.680s
14 Matheo Tuscher Jenzer Motorsport 32.026s
15 Artur Janosz Trident 32.555s
16 Oscar Tunjo Trident 34.642s
17 Adderly Fong Koiranen GP 35.972s
18 Sandy Stuvik Status Grand Prix 36.967s
19 Alex Bosak Arden International 40.274s
20 Samin Gomez Campos Racing 46.219s
21 Pal Varhaug Jenzer Motorsport 51.827s
22 Mitch Gilbert Carlin 1 Lap
- Ralph Boschung Jenzer Motorsport Retirement
- Seb Morris Status Grand Prix Retirement



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