Rio Haryanto became the ninth different winner from as many races in the GP3 Series so far this season in a dramatic race hit by rain late-on at the Nurburgring where the lead continually changed hands in the closing laps.
At the beginning of the race, Haryanto got a good start to move into second place as polesitter Mitch Evans retained his lead despite running deep into Turn 1. Lewis Williamson took second place from the Indonesian at the end of the opening lap having moved up from eighth on the grid.
Evans was handed a stop-and-go penalty a few laps into the race for not having his tyres fitted, which dropped him down towards the back. His MW Arden teammate Williamson inherited the lead and looked set for victory until the rain began to come down in the closing laps.
Haryanto closed right up to Williamson and the Scot ran wide at Turn 1 allowing Haryanto through into the lead. Williamson regained first place with a good run out of Turn 4, only for Haryanto to take back the lead at Turn 6.
Valtteri Bottas meanwhile had closed up on the pair and took second place from Williamson at the Turn 7 hairpin. He then tried to take the lead from Haryanto at Turn 10, but the Manor driver held on.
Williamson took second back from Bottas at the final turn on the penultimate lap and then challenged Haryanto at Turn 1 on the final lap. Haryanto remained in the lead though to take the checkered flag ahead of Williamson and Bottas, who held onto third under pressure from ART teammate James Calado at the very end.
Calado had passed Adrian Quaife-Hobbs during the rain, having been behind him since the first lap. Quaife-Hobbs finished in fifth.
Championship leader Alexander Sims had been set for sixth place until he came in to change to wet tyres as the rain came down. He couldn't make up the lost places so finished down in 12th. Conor Daly stayed out to finish in sixth, ahead of the Tech 1 pairing of Aaro Vainio and Tamas Pal Kiss who will line up on the front row of Sunday's race.
Race results – 15 laps:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Rio Haryanto | Marussia Manor Racing | 29:48.703 |
| 2 | Lewis Williamson | MW Arden | 2.404 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Lotus ART | 3.183 |
| 4 | James Calado | Lotus ART | 3.611 |
| 5 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | Marussia Manor Racing | 4.948 |
| 6 | Conor Daly | Carlin | 18.223 |
| 7 | Aaro Vainio | Tech 1 Racing | 19.692 |
| 8 | Tamas Pal Kiss | Tech 1 Racing | 21.387 |
| 9 | Simon Trummer | MW Arden | 23.635 |
| 10 | Nigel Melker | RSC Mucke Motorsport | 32.818 |
| 11 | Ivan Lukashevich | Status Grand Prix | 37.554 |
| 12 | Alexander Sims | Status Grand Prix | 39.025 |
| 13 | Vittorio Ghirelli | Jenzer Motorsport | 44.359 |
| 14 | Matias Laine | Marussia Manor Racing | 47.159 |
| 15 | Nico Muller | Jenzer Motorsport | 51.928 |
| 16 | Nick Yelloly | Atech CRS GP | 59.456 |
| 17 | Leonardo Cordeiro | Carlin | 61.306 |
| 18 | Thomas Hylkema | Tech 1 Racing | 65.865 |
| 19 | Pedro Nunes | Lotus ART | 69.296 |
| 20 | Mitch Evans | MW Arden | 69.673 |
| 21 | Maxim Zimin | Jenzer Motorsport | 80.469 |
| 22 | Zoel Amberg | Atech CRS GP | 82.044 |
| 23 | Tom Dillmann | Addax Team | 82.921 |
| 24 | Dean Smith | Addax Team | 99.214 |
| 25 | Luciano Bacheta | RSC Mucke Motorsport | 202.519 |
| 26 | Michael Christensen | RSC Mucke Motorsport | + 1 lap |
| 27 | Gabby Chaves | Addax Team | + 1 lap |
| 28 | Antonio Felix Da Costa | Status Grand Prix | + 1 lap |
| 29 | Callum Macleod | Carlin | + 1 lap |
| Ret | Marlon Stockinger | Atech CRS GP | 11 laps |
