After all running on Saturday for the GP3 Series was cancelled at Monza the drivers did not fail in putting on a show, with George Russell claiming victory ahead of Jack Aitken and Anthoine Hubert.
The result meant that ART Grand Prix has claimed their seventh Teams’ Championship in the eighth season of the series.
Poleman Nirei Fukuzumi was unable to make the start after getting stuck at the pit exit with an electrical gremlin.
When the lights went out Russell, eased away from P2 on the grid with Hubert and Aitken fighting each other behind.
Behind Leonardo Pulcini and Alessio Lorandi came together at the Variante della Roggia, with the former riding the latter’s rear wheel. The safety car was straight out on track as the medical team extracted Pulcini from the car before taking him to the medical centre.
It took until lap 9 for the action to resume due to repairs being made to the barriers, with Russell making the jump on his team-mates. Behind Steijn Schothorst and Niko Kari fought for the status of best of the rest – making slight contact but were able to carry on.
Hubert managed to squeeze by Russell on lap 11 but the Briton regained the position two laps later just before a virtual safety car period was called following contact between Jenzer Motorsport team-mates Juan Manuel Correa and Arjun Maini.
When the action restarted once again, the ARTs had a 10 second gap over the rest of the pack. At the restart Raoul Hyman lost a number of position whilst in a gaggle of drivers.
Out front, Aitken got a good run on Russell at the Parabolica to run side by side before grabbing the lead into Turn 1. Russell was not going to let his fellow Briton get away with it without a fight, sticking to his team-mate’s rear wing all lap long to regain the lead at Roggia on lap 16.
Due to the disruptions the race switched to a timed one as the laps would not have been completed.
Maini was forced to come into the pits from P7 after his rear wing disintegrated following damage that occurred during the collision with his team-mate.
Kari was added to the growing list of retirements when he ran wide over the kerbs onto the astroturf, finding the wall to bring out the safety car for the final lap of the race – ending the battle for the lead that was still roaring on between the ARTs.
Victory meant Russell extended his lead in the championship over Aitken who finished in second place. Hubert came home in third, ahead of Marcos Siebert. Ryan Tveter, Giuliano Alesi, Tatiana Calderon, Julien Falchero, Kevin Jörg and Bruno Baptista.
Seventh place for Calderon is the best result for a female driver in the series.
Racing returns on 6-8 October at a stand alone event in Jerez for the penultimate round of the 2017 season.
2017 GP3 Feature Race Results – Monza
[table id=2422 /]
