Charles Leclerc is back to victory in GP3 Series in Spa-Francorchamps’ first race. The driver from Monaco dominated since the very start despite Dennis’ comback, who finished second. De Vries completes the podium.


Amazing race we lived today in Spa-Francorchamps. Ferrari young driver Charles Leclerc made it into the victory by escaping from the amazing fights that were taking place behind the race.

At first, the start was crazy. Charles Leclerc (ART Grand Prix) maintained the lead while his teammate got over Antonio Fucoco (Trident) to climb to second place. Behind, Jake Hughes (DAMS), Matt Parry (Koiranen GP) and Ariun Maini (Jenzer Motorsport) suffered a touch that left all of them out of the race.

Besides, Kevin Jörg (DAMS) did neither do a good start and blocked the turn’s interior, then losing until last position. His teammate, Santino Ferruci, who got stuck at the start, could take profit of this.

All this events forced the race director to deploy the Safety Car. Aitken (Arden International) lost ninth position to Tereschenko (Campos Racing) and Ferruci, who passed both drivers. Behind, Tatiana Calderón (Arden International) touched Niko Kari (Koiranen GP) as Finish suffered a puncture that forced him into the retirement. Albon (ART Grand Prix) could then overtake both drivers.

Lately Ferruci was easily getting rid of Alesi for ninth place while Aitken was defendinc from Albon and Tunjo, who finally made the overtake. Ferrucci kept on earning positions and got also rid of Matevos Isaakyan (Koiranen GP) and Alex Palou, to put himself in sixth position. On his side, Palou would finish fourteenth after a bad management of tyre wear.

Aitken would then comeback for next five laps, pulling away from Albon and overtaking Tereschenko. Next he would do so to Isaakyan and on last lap pulled away from Ferrucci and Schothorst.

Podium fight also remained open until last time. Dennis was managing the tyre wear better than anyone and by a two second per lap faster pace he passed Fuoco and De VriesLeclerc avoided him by just 2.3 seconds.

Finally, victory for Charles Leclerc as Dennis and De Vries are TOP3. Closing the points we see Alesi (Trident) in his first point in GP3, and tomorrow’s pole will be for Isaakyan as he finished P8 today.

 

Complete results:

Pos. Car Driver Team Gap Diff
1 1 C. Leclerc ART Grand Prix After 17 Laps
2 9 J. Dennis Arden International + 2,3 + 2,3
3 4 N. De Vries ART Grand Prix + 15,4 + 13,1
4 5 A. Fuoco Trident + 19,4 + 4,0
5 11 J. Aitken Arden International + 19,8 + 0,4
6 23 S. Schothorst Campos Racing + 21,4 + 1,6
7 26 S. Ferrucci DAMS + 24,3 + 2,9
8 16 M. Isaakyan Koiranen GP + 28,8 + 4,5
9 3 A. Albon ART Grand Prix + 30,0 + 1,2
10 7 G. Alesi Trident + 31,0 + 1,0
11 28 K. Joerg DAMS + 39,1 + 8,1
12 10 T. Calderón Arden International + 41,1 + 2,0
13 6 A. Janosz Trident + 42,3 + 1,2
14 22 Á. Palou Campos Racing + 48,1 + 5,8
15 19 Ó. Tunjo Jenzer Motorsport + 59,1 + 11,0
16 24 K. Tereschenko Campos Racing + 72,7 + 13,6
17 18 A. Nandy Jenzer Motorsport + 75,6 + 2,9
DNF 8 S. Stuvik Trident + 4 Laps
DNF 17 N. Kari Koiranen GP + 13 Laps
DNF 2 N. Fukuzumi ART Grand Prix + 16 Laps
DNF 27 J. Hughes DAMS + 17 Laps
DNF 14 M. Parry Koiranen GP + 17 Laps
DNF 20 A. Maini Jenzer Motorsport + 17 Laps