After qualifying second on the grid Jake Dennis went one better in the GP3 Series Feature Race where he pulled off a move on lap five on championship leader Charles Leclerc to go on and claim his maiden victory in the category.
“I knew I had a good chance after qualifying. I felt really good in the car and the race runs from Friday looked really positive.” Dennis told gp3series.com. “I pulled off a pretty decent move on Leclerc to get into the lead.
“That was sort of the winning move as the battle we had meant I had to pull off the manoeuvre and I pushed quite hard on the next two or three laps to create a gap.”
Dennis felt comfortable until team-mate Jack Aitken also passed Leclerc, and admitted he needed to push harder again when his fellow Arden International racer was following.
“As soon as Jack Aitken got into second, it was back into full race mode,” admitted Dennis. “It was an intense race, not like Spa. Generally, I’m just really happy.
“Now we can progress, third in Budapest, second in Spa and the win here; so we’re getting some good points on the board and working our way up the standings. I will do the same tomorrow.”
“It was tough for sure. Aitken was putting on a lot of pressure on the start. I made quite a big mistake in T1 which put a lot of pressure on me going into the next chicane. He was generally, there, or thereabouts all race but I could see in the last 7 laps he was starting to struggle with tyre deg then. But then they said Jake Hughes is coming so I couldn’t chill out.
“For the last 2 laps I could relax and enjoy it. I’m extremely happy. The first win in the Series is great and a big relief. Given the year I’ve had I was waiting for something to happen in the last two laps to take the win away from me. I brought it home.”
The Briton leaves Monza sitting in fifth place of the championship with 96 points and Arden International now in second place of the Teams’ Championship on 187 points.
