Despite seeing his chance of taking the 2014 GP3 Series championship disappear on Friday when he failed to take pole position, Dean Stoneman continued his good form by taking his fourth victory of the season in race one at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
The Briton took the lead away from pole sitter Marvin Kirchhofer at the start, and was never headed from there on, with the Koiranen GP driver defeating the ART Grand Prix driver by eight tenths of a second at the end of the fourteen-lap race.
The result means that the battle for second place in the Championship will go down to Sunday’s final race, with Stoneman only two points clear of Kirchhofer.
Dino Zamparelli took his sixth podium finish of the season by finishing third in the second of the ART Grand Prix machines, holding off his fellow Brit Emil Bernstorff of Carlin, while Bernstorff’s team-mate and the newly crowned series champion Alex Lynn was fifth.
The third ART Grand Prix machine of Alex Fontana was sixth, ahead of Patric Niederhauser of Arden International, while Nick Yelloly took eighth and pole position for race two on Sunday for Status Grand Prix, and will be looking to convert that grid slot into his first GP3 win in what will be his fiftieth race in the series.
The final two points positions on Saturday were taken by Kevin Ceccon of Jenzer Motorsport and Jimmy Eriksson of Koiranen GP, who got the better of team-mate Santiago Urrutia with just a few laps remaining.
The race was neutralised early on by a safety car period after Trident Racing’s Patrick Kujala hit the back of Jenzer Motorsports Matheo Tuscher, and then spun into the Carlin of Luis Sa Silva. Kujala and Sa Silva were out on the spot, while Tuscher retired in the pits.
Abu Dhabi Race 1 Result
POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/Laps |
1 | Dean Stoneman | GBR | Koiranen GP | 29m10.173s |
2 | Marvin Kirchhofer | GER | ART Grand Prix | +0.800s |
3 | Dino Zamparelli | GBR | ART Grand Prix | +5.423s |
4 | Emil Bernstorff | GBR | Carlin | +6.808s |
5 | Alex Lynn | GBR | Carlin | +9.441s |
6 | Alex Fontana | SWI | ART Grand Prix | +10.464s |
7 | Patric Niederhauser | SWI | Arden International | +12.174s |
8 | Nick Yelloly | GBR | Status Grand Prix | +13.296s |
9 | Kevin Ceccon | ITA | Jenzer Motorsport | +15.414s |
10 | Jimmy Eriksson | SWE | Koiranen GP | +16.173s |
11 | Santiago Urrutia | URU | Koiranen GP | +22.559s |
12 | Richie Stanaway | NZL | Status Grand Prix | +23.097s |
13 | Jann Mardenborough | GBR | Arden International | +23.677s |
14 | Pal Varhaug | NOR | Jenzer Motorsport | +24.419s |
15 | Robert Visoiu | ROM | Arden International | +25.203s |
16 | Alfonso Celis Jr | MEX | Status Grand Prix | +27.534s |
17 | Nelson Mason | CAN | Hilmer Motorsport | +31.020s |
18 | Riccardo Agostini | ITA | Hilmer Motorsport | +33.738s |
19 | Ryan Cullen | GBR | Trident Racing | +34.463s |
20 | Ling Kang | CHN | Trident Racing | +39.273s |
RET | Matheo Tuscher | SWI | Jenzer Motorsport | 2 Laps |
RET | Patrick Kujala | FIN | Trident Racing | 0 Laps |
RET | Luis Sa Silva | MAC | Carlin | 0 Laps |