Having started the GP3 Series Feature Race from second on the grid, Arden International‘s Jake Dennis went on to claim his maiden victory in the category from team-mate Jack Aitken and fellow Briton Jake Hughes.
Championship leader Charles Leclerc started from pole position, and managed to hold on to this lead at the start ahead of Dennis and Aitken. The safety car was soon deployed after DAMS‘ Kevin Jörg stopped on track. As racing resumed Aitken was keen to try and get past his team-mate, whilst there was contact between Ralph Boschung and Matevos Isaakyan resulting in the Russian having to retire and the Swiss being handed a ten-second time penalty.
Out front Dennis was pressuring Leclerc, and on lap five got past the Monegasque driver for the lead of the race with Aitken also getting past the ART Grand Prix driver on the following lap.
Antonio Fuoco was keen to impress his home crowd by attempting a challenge on Leclerc for the final rostrum place. The pair made light contact but were able to continue, with the Italian falling into the clutches of the chasing pack.
Having got past Nirei Fukuzumi, Hughes hunted down Leclerc before making a move stick into Turn 1 on the ART driver to place himself in the top three. In the lead, Dennis had built a small gap over Aitken as Hughes set about posting fastest laps.
On the final lap, Aitken held off an attack from Hughes whilst Leclerc was busy checking his mirrors which were full of his team-mate Fukuzumi.
As the chequered flag was shown, Dennis claimed victory by almost two seconds over Arden team-mate Aitken with Hughes rounding off an all-British podium ahead of Leclerc, Fukuzumi, Alexander Albon, Nyck de Vries, Fuoco, Matthew Parry and Tatiana Calderon.
Leclerc now holds a 34 point advantage in the Drivers’ Standings over Fuoco. ART also had much to celebrate by sealing their sixth Teams’ Championship, with the battle on for second and third with Arden leapfrogging Trident and Koiranen GP for second.
Autodromo Nazionale Monza Race 1 Result
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