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Tamas Pal Kiss And Tech 1 Take Maiden GP3 Win At Barcelona

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Tamas Pal Kiss claimed a lights-to-flag win in Race 2 at Barcelona to score his and the Tech 1 Racing team's first GP3 Series victory.

While the Hungarian made a good start to lead into Turn 1 there were chaotic scenes behind. Nico Muller failed to get away from fourth place, and as the rest of the field tried to avoid the Jenzer car Marlon Stockinger hit Muller and then collected Alexander Sims as he spun.

After the restart Muller led away from Nigel Melker, who had taken second place from Dean Smith at the start. Aaro Vainio was defending fourth place from Tech 1 teammate Andrea Caldarelli when he was handed a drive-through for jumping the start.

Kiss held onto the lead until he crossed the finish line, 2.5 seconds ahead of Melker, with Smith third and Caldarelli fourth. Race 1 winner Mitch Evans finished fifth, with Valtteri Bottas taking the final point in sixth.

“I was quite comfortable today, and we made a different strategy for the race for the tyres,” said Kiss. “I didn't want to overheat the tyres at the beginning and after the start it was reasonably okay and I had a bit of luck with the safety car, as I knew I would be able to get a bit of a gap.

“Then I just tried to keep calm and manage my tyres which all worked. I then had to keep Melker behind me. We were both on the limit at the end, and I tried hard not to make mistakes.”

Melker remains in the championship lead after two rounds, just two points ahead of Caldarelli. Evans is three points further back in third, with a nine point gap to the chasing pack.

With GP3 not racing at Monaco the cars will next be on track for the first of two midseason tests at the Hungaroring on 1-2 June. The next round will be supporting the European Grand Prix at Valencia's street circuit on 25-26 June.

Race results after 16 laps:

Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Tamas Pal Kiss Tech 1 Racing 31:08.280 
2 Nigel Melker RSC Mucke Motorsport 1.294
3 Dean Smith Addax Team 2.657
4 Andrea Caldarelli Tech 1 Racing 4.055
5 Mitch Evans MW Arden 5.671
6 Valtteri Bottas Lotus ART 9.341
7 Vittorio Ghirelli Jenzer Motorsport 10.615
8 Lewis Williamson MW Arden 11.830
9 Zoel Amberg Atech CRS GP 14.205
10 Rio Haryanto Marussia Manor Racing 15.542
11 Michael Christensen RSC Mucke Motorsport 17.398
12 Ivan Lukashevich Status Grand Prix 18.038
13 Daniel Morad Carlin 19.171
14 Leonardo Cordeiro Carlin 19.733
15 Luciano Bacheta RSC Mucke Motorsport 22.275
16 Antonio Felix Da Costa Status Grand Prix 22.785
17 Gabriel Chaves Addax Team 27.122
18 Nick Yelloly Atech CRS GP 29.727
19 Maxim Zimin Jenzer Motorsport 30.18
20 Aaro Vainio Tech 1 Racing 31.256
21 James Calado Lotus ART 43.066
22 Conor Daly Carlin 46.796
23 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Marussia Manor Racing 50.892
24 Matias Laine Marussia Manor Racing +1 lap
25 Simon Trummer MW Arden + 2 laps
26 Pedro Nunes Lotus ART + 2 laps
27 Dominic Storey Addax Team + 2 laps
Ret  Nico Muller Jenzer Motorsport 0 laps
Ret Marlon Stockinger Atech CRS GP 0 laps
Ret Alexander Sims Status Grand Prix 0 laps
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About author
Peter joined the TCF team in September 2010 and covers GP2 and GP3 along with WTCC and Formula Two. You can find him on twitter at @PeteAllen_
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