Part two of the 2018 GP3 Series triple header took place at the weekend at the Red Bull Ring.
Coming to the Austrian track, ART Grand Prix‘s Anthoine Hubert was on top of the championship standings.
Hubert and team-mate Callum Ilott were riding the highs of their maiden victories in the series which they claimed in vastly differing circumstances.
The Frenchman was promoted to the race win after countryman Dorian Boccolacci was disqualified whereas team-mate Ilott dominated the Sprint Race.
Ilott on top
Continuing his dominance from Circuit Paul Ricard, Ilott claimed ART’s first pole position of the season.
Ilott comfortably led from the moment the lights went out, to cruise to victory four and a half seconds ahead of second placed man Leonardo Pulcini.
The Briton had to deal with a safety car restart early into the race but coped well to stretch out an advantage at the front.
On Sunday, the Briton had been battling for a podium place once again but was ultimately resigned to sixth place.
Heading to his home race this weekend, Ilott leads the championship by sixth points over Hubert following a difficult weekend for the Frenchman.
“Looking back I couldn’t really have done anything better or differently. ART gave me a great car and on this track it is always good to bring it home with a solid lead. Taking the points lead in the championship was the icing on the cake,” said Ilott.
Hubert struggles
Hubert would have been hoping to build upon his strong start to the season but things did not go to plan for the Frenchman.
In qualifying, Hubert had been hoping to take provisional pole position but ran wide before stopping on track just a lap later.
As a result he had to start down in nineteenth place.
In the Feature Race, Hubert had managed to fight his way back up into the points and would have been hoping to claim eighth and reverse grid pole for Sunday.
However, as he attacked David Beckmann team-mate Nikita Mazepin snatched the inside line but ran out of room and made contact with Hubert.
Put into a spin, Hubert had to settle for seventeenth.
After another fight through the pack, Hubert finished Sunday’s Sprint Race in ninth and unfortunately for him out of the points.
Having not scored a point all weekend Hubert is now second in the standings.
Hughes back on form
Starting from second on the grid for Saturday’s Feature Race, Hughes would have hoped to step on to the podium but the Briton faded in the race to come home in fifth place.
This meant, he started the Sprint Race from fourth place.
Hughes took advantage of Giuliano Alesi, Ryan Tveter and David Beckmann colliding to sail into the lead.
It was not all plain-sailing for Hughes who was constantly under pressure from Pedro Piquet behind.
At one point Piquet lead for a handful of laps, but with all of his DRS still remaining Hughes got back ahead and controlled the race to the finish.
This means that all four ART drivers have won races this year, in the opening six races.
Hughes is a long way off Ilott in the championship however, with his countryman 33 points ahead of him in the standings.
The next round of the 2018 GP3 Series takes places 6-8 July at Silverstone.
