Having started the GP3 Series Feature Race from the pitlane it was a massive change of fortunes for Jake Hughes who fought back to earn himself a front row start for the final race of the 2016 season, the Briton was opportunistic on the inside of Turn 1 and remained unchallenged until the chequered flag.
Arden International‘s Jack Aitken was second with ART Grand Prix‘s Nirei Fukuzumi rounding off the podium.
Campos Racing‘s Konstantin Tereschenko started from reverse pole after claiming his first points in the series the previous day. From fourth place Fukuzumi made a good start to jump into the lead but ran wide slightly with Tereschenko and Alex Palou alongside him. As the trio battled it out Hughes dove down the inside to take the lead.
As pole sitter Tereschenko dropped down to P7 Aitken leapt up to P2.
An early safety car period was called after wheel to wheel contact between Alexander Albon and Tatiana Calderon, that left the Thai driver in the barrier and the Columbian to also retire. This brought an end to a disastrous weekend for Albon who had been in the title fight up until this weekend.
When racing resumed Hughes led Aitken and Fukuzumi. Further down the field the Campos trio were battling away with Palou passing Steijn Schothorst and the Tereschenko also got the job done on his team-mate.
Nearly crowned champion Charles Leclerc started from P17, after having to retire from the feature race, the Monegasque set about carving his way through the pack. Antonio Fuoco was a man on the move, and endured a fierce battle with feature race winner Nyck de Vries – the Italian continually attacked the Dutchman for P11 but ran wide. The Trident drive was then required to give the position back after gaining an advantage and was issued a 5s time penalty for causing a collision.
Out front Hughes had built up an advantage of 2.8s over Aitken and Fukuzumi, with Dennis hot on their heels. Leclerc was also getting racy as he battled Kevin Jörg for the final points paying position. The ART driver attempted a brave move around the outside of the Swiss driver but Jörg fought back to retain the place.
The fight between de Vries and Fuoco still was not over as the pair ran side by side with the Ferrari Driver Academy finally getting past the McLaren backed driver – however Fuoco tumbled down the order when his penalty was applied post race.
Hughes crossed the line to take his second victory in the GP3 series by 2.8s, fellow Brit Aitken claimed yet another podium finish with Fukuzumi managing to hold of Dennis to take the final spot on the rostrum. The points scoring places rounded off by: Palou, Tereschenko, Schothorst and Jörg.
Despite the fact the season is over the teams will remain in Abu Dhabi for a three day post-season test next week on November 30 – December 2.
Yas Marina Circuit Race 2 Results
[table id=1726 /]
