Daniil Kvyat has won the first race of the GP3 Series at Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi and has been the champion of the 2013 GP3 Series.
The start was very moved, with Kevin Korjus (Koiranen GP) who came third but his car had to stop because it caught fire, but the Estonian could restart the race and could make up the distance with the group because the safety car was out, thanks to Carmen Jordà (Bamboo Engineering). Thus, Kvyat kept retaining the preferred position followed by the two Carlins, Yelloly and Sims.In the restart of the race Regalia was under pressure, the former championship leader Tio Ellinas (Marussia Manor Racing) kept trying to overtake and the Argentinian caused a stopper, leaving the track but losing no position. With ten laps to go, Sainz tried to overtake Niederhauser who had made a very good start, but the Spanish did a spin in front of the Swiss and made the guy from Jenzer retire. The Arden boy could continue, but all this was a gift to Regalia for him to be in seventh position. Kvyat completed three laps in violets, assigning himself 2 more points.Halfway through the race, Alexander Sims overtook his teammate, Nick Yelloly, getting second. Kvyat then was GP3 champion by 18 points. Behind that the race has been starred by Kevin Korjus and his spectacular comeback of the twenty-fifth position on the first lap to the fourteenth position when crossing the checkered flag.Regalia (ART Grand Prix) still had a lot of problems to keep the car on the track, and Tio Ellinas , started to attack him again. This time the Cypriot studied the Argentinian for a while, and with only three laps to go, he went off track , losing any chance of overtaking the ART boy. Meanwhile, Regalia’s teammate, Connor Daly, reached Nick Yelloly and entered the fight for the podium that finally the American would not get.
Final results: Kvyat, Sims, Yelloly, Daly, Harvey, Stoneman, Regalia, Ellinas, Kujala and Sainz closed the points. Eleventh was Robert Visoiu, followed by Zamparelli, Venturini, Korjus, Fontana, Zonzini, Cregan, Fong, Sa Silva, Powell, Cullen, Webster and Goméz. Eriksson has been one lap behind, and Niederhauser and Jorda have abandoned.Finally, at the end of the race, race direction has reported that Regalia had a penalization for not respecting the yellow flag and move outside the runway during the accident involving Niederhauser and Sainz. This brings down the Argentine to the sixteenth position , because it was a 20 second penalty. This makes Patrick Kujala (Koiranen GP) start in the first position on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
