Mercedes junior driver Esteban Ocon secured his maiden victory on his GP3 Series debut in the opening round of the 2015 championship at Barcelona.
Ocon took the lead into turn 1 after making a better start than pole-sitter Luca Ghiotto. The ART Grand Prix driver then began to extend his lead before the safety car was deployed following an incident between Seb Morris and Ralph Boschung, which left both cars out of the race.
With seven laps to go the race was resumed and Ocon once again left Ghiotto far behind, crossing the line 3.368s ahead of the Trident driver.
Arden International driver Emil Bernstorff finished the race in third, less than two tenths behind Ghiotto when they crossed the line.
Jann Mardenborough, who was ninth when the safety car came in, made light work of many of his rivals – passing Alex Palou immediately and then swiftly dispatching several others.
Ocon’s ART team-mate Marvin Kirchhofer crossed the line fifth followed by Koiranen GP driver Jimmy Eriksson and Kevin Ceccon.
Ferrari junior Antonio Fuoco finished in eighth for Carlin from 21st on the grid after a trip to the gravel in qualifying left him down the order.
Alex Fontana finished ninth for Status Grand Prix ahead of Alfonso Celis Jr who rounded out the top ten.
Fontana’s team-mate Sandy Stuvik had finished 10th but he recieved a 10-second penalty for overtaking Jenzer Motorsport’s Pal Varhaug after the safety car was deployed, leaving the Thai driver down in 18th place.
