British star Jack Harvey romped home to victory at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza after making a great start from P2 and held off the challenge of Daniil Kvyat and Lewis Williamson.
It all happened at the start and it was Jenzer Motorsport’s Patric Niederhauser who had reverse pole.
The Swiss driver crept forward just before the lights went out and unfortunately stalled on the grid. His teammate Alex Fontana ran into the back of him, which thus put them both out of the race.
Harvey got away well into the lead as Carlin’s Alexander Sims got past Kevin Korjus down the straight.
Ryan Cullen made contact with several drivers heading during Lap 1 including Venturini which brought a premature halt to their race. The safety car was deployed.
Once the action resumed, there was passing aplenty and first on the move was Sims, making a successful pass on Korjus with GP3 Series leader Facu Regalia also on the prowl. Williamson was also quick at the restart and demoted Sims down a position, before Daniil Kvyat made a very brave move to overtake Sims on the outside of Lap 4 to help his title challenge.
All eyes were on the mouth-watering battle between Korjus and Kvyat in the first half of the race, the two diced wheel to wheel in spectacular fashion, but the Russian driver moved ahead and set his sights on his championship rival Regalia. On lap 12, Kvyat made his point and passed the Argentine, closing the gap in the Drivers’ Standings.
Williamson had pushed hard and began to suffer tyre degradation in the final laps and Kvyat made seized the moment and moved into P2. The MW Arden driver began to hunt down Harvey but the Brit held on to take his second win of his rookie season.
Harvey crossed the line just nine tenths ahead of Kvyat in an unbelievable race, with Williamson enjoying his first rostrum of the season.
Regalia posted the fastest lap of the race, bouncing back from yesterday’s disappointment to sneak the final point, passing Sainz on the final lap.
Regalia’s advantage in the Drivers’ Standings has been cut to seven points with Kvyat inching closer. Korjus and Daly are next up on 107 and 104 respectively with Harvey moving up to fifth with 96 points.
ART Grand Prix hold the huge lead in the Teams’ Standings on a total of 338 points, with MW Arden and Koiranen GP on 240 and 183.
With only one round remaining, all eyes will be on the spectacular setting of the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Who will it be the champion? See you at Abu Dhabi on 01-03 November 2013.