GP3: Luca Ghiotto on top of the podium at Sochi
The cancelled GP3 race took place Sunday morning, 9:00AM local time and was won by Luca Ghiotto who took the lead in lap 1 and held it until the end of the race. Esteban Ocon started the shortened 15-lap long race from pole, followed by Matheo Tuscher and Kevin Ceccon. Matt Parry was issued a three-place penalty dropping to ninth. Series leader Luca Ghiotto started the race from sixth. Drivers had to be very cautious not to damage their car since the sprint race was scheduled to start 11:30 local time. On the start, Matheo Tuscher and Kevin Ceccon stalled, but returned to the race and Luca Ghiotto got to second immediately. Though it seemed like Esteban Ocon had a certain lead, Ghiotto made a move on Ocon and finished the first lap as the leader. Pal Varhaug spun, and so did Arden drivers Bosak and Ceccon. The collision between two Arden International cars caused the yellow flag and Tuscher retired from the race. On lap 5, the race restarted and Jann Mardenborough overtook Fuoco for the fifth.
On lap 7, Michele Beretta spun, but returned to the race immediately. In the front, Ghiotto was posting the fastest laps extending his lead, but in the back, several battles took place. Halfway into the race, Ghiotto’s lead over Ocon went up to 1.6s, and as Ocon made a mistake, the lead increased to 3s. Jann Mardenborough was attacking Palou for fourth and defending from Fuoco, but the biggest battle went on for seventh between teammates Jimmy Eriksson and Matt Parry. Marvin Kirchhofer tried to get to eighth to take the reverse-grid pole, but didn’t manage to overtake Eriksson. Ghiotto won the race with a comfortable margin over Ocon with Bernstorff in third. Palou held Mardenborough off and finished fourth, while Fuoco remained sixth. Matt Parry was seventh and the reverse grid pole went to Jimmy Eriksson. Kirchhofer and Janosz completed the top ten.
