ART Grand Prix’s Conor Daly was undoubtedly the man of the weekend as GP3 held it’s standalone event at Valencia this weekend.
The only weekend this year which sees GP3 run as a headline event with no Formula One in sight was the one American Daly will not forget in a hurry.
Having taken his first pole position for the first race he promptly took a lights to flag victory to add to the victory already gained earlier in the season.
In what was a perfect race for the French ART team Facu Regalia finished second close behind Daly as the Argentinian was not able to get past after laps of battling.
Third place was Koiranen GP driver as Kevin Korjus, much like Regalia, managed to get past Daniil Kvyat without much trouble. Kvyat himself retained fourth place.
The race further down the grid was full of action – Adderly Fong in the Status GP car and Trident’s David Fumanelli made contact on only the second turn which put them both out of the race.
One of the main battles as the second half of the race unfurled was for eighth place as Marussia Manor Racing’s Dino Zamparelli tried to fend off Robert Visoiu. However, the Brit’s defence was in vain as the MW Arden driver snuck through to claim eighth and pole position for race two.
Visoiu then did a Daly in race two also commanding the pace to gain himself a lights to flag, and debut, victory as Koiranen GP gained another podium with Aaro Vainio following the Russian through to second. Carlos Sainz gained a third place for MW Arden.
However, Sainz was hassled for third place much of the race by Tio Ellinas who eventually had to settle for fourth place.
The only incident of note was a trip through the gravel by Patric Niederhauser who then drove back to the pits and retired. He will be hoping to avoid a repeat of that next weekend as he races for Race Performance in their Oreca-03 at the Le Mans 24 Hours alongside Michel Frey and Jeroen Bleekemolen.
The results mean Ellinas takes the lead in the drivers championship with 55 points followed by Conor Daly on 51 and Vainio on 43.
The next race is on the British GP weekend on June 28/29.