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Bianchi wins race one at Zandvoort

Jules Bianchi survived a late-race restart to cap a dominant performance at Zandvoort with victory in the first Formula 3 Euro Series race of the weekend

The championship leader had opened a lead of nearly seven seconds in nine racing laps over title rival Christian Vietoris by the time the safety car came out on lap 15. He then played the restart well, as Vietoris then came under attack from Valtteri Bottas, who snatched second place at the first corner to complete an ART 1-2.

Vietoris had to settle for third ahead of Jean-Karl Vernay, who spent most of the race defending from Esteban Gutierrez, with Henkie Waldschmidt close behind.

The points were completed by Jake Rosenzweig and Sam Bird, who will share the front row in Sunday's reversed-grid race.

After a stunning start from Bird vaulted him from 15th on the grid to 10th, the pair had been scrapping outside of the top eight in the early stages. But they were promoted up the order when Roberto Merhi and Christopher Zanella were penalised for jumping the start.

The top 10 was completed by Atte Mustonen and Brendon Hartley, who raced his way up from 19th on the grid and was one of the few drivers to pull off multiple overtaking moves during the race.

There was more good news for Bianchi's title charge, as Stefano Coletti and Mika Maki collided on the first lap and both had to retire, dropping them a long way behind the Frenchman in the title race.

Pos Driver                      Team          Car         Time/Gap
 1. Jules Bianchi               ART           D/M       31m04.337s
 2. Valtteri Bottas             ART           D/M           +2.109
 3. Christian Vietoris          Mucke         D/M           +3.004
 4. Jean-Karl Vernay            Signature     D/V           +4.852
 5. Esteban Gutierrez           ART           D/M           +5.198
 6. Henkie Waldschmidt          SG            D/M           +6.937
 7. Jake Rosenzweig             Carlin        D/V           +7.532
 8. Sam Bird                    Mucke         D/M           +7.701
 9. Atte Mustonen               Motopark      D/M           +8.148
10. Brendon Hartley             Carlin        D/V           +9.273
11. Adrien Tambay               ART           D/M          +10.072
12. Marco Wittmann              Mucke         D/M          +10.596
13. Alexander Sims              Mucke         D/M          +11.302
14. Pedro Nunes                 Manor         D/M          +11.888
15. Johnny Cecotto Jr           HBR           D/M          +15.954
16. Basil Shaaban               Prema         D/M          +16.961
17. Cesar Ramos                 Manor         D/M          +16.966
18. Roberto Merhi               Manor         D/M          +17.386
19. Johan Jokinen               HBR           D/V          +17.838
20. Matteo Chinosi              Prema         D/M          + 1 lap
21. Christopher Zanella         Motopark      D/M         + 5 laps

Retirements

    Andrea Caldarelli           SG            D/M           9 laps
    Mika Maki                   Signature     D/V           0 laps
    Nick Tandy                  Kolles        D/V           0 laps
    Stefano Coletti             Prema         D/M           0 laps
    Tiago Geronimi              Signature     D/V           0 laps


Fastest lap, Bianchi 1m31.076s

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