Honda junior driver Nirei Fukuzumi has taken his first win in GP3 in a dominant drive from second on the grid in the feature race at Barcelona.
Fukuzumi led all 22 laps after polesitter Jack Aitken suffered a poor start and fell behind his team-mate just a couple of seconds after the race began.
The day would get worse for the Brit after being within one second of Fukuzumi for the first 16 laps when his car suddenly slowed and he was forced to retire on the following lap.
Aitken’s retirement is his first in his 19th start in the series and the first time he has failed to score points in a feature race since the British round last July.
This promoted Leonardo Pulcini and Alessio Lorandi into second and third places for their first podiums, but the Arden driver was significantly behind the winner, finishing 7.4s adrift.
Mercedes junior George Russell recovered from falling to eighth early on to finish fourth ahead of team-mate Anthoine Hubert. Trident’s Dorian Boccolacci fell from third on the grid to sixth after troubles during the race.
He attempted to pass Aitken for second at Turn 2 and narrowly escaped a trip through the gravel after a robust defence, and also he couldn’t find the pace to keep the two ART drivers behind as these drivers used the new DRS system to their advantage during the event.
Haas development driver Arjun Maini completed the race in seventh ahead of Campos’ Raoul Hyman, who is set to start the sprint race from pole. Fellow Haas’ development driver Santino Ferrucci and Marcos Siebert rounded out the top-10, being separated by small margins side-by-side across the finish line.
Sauber-backed Tatiana Calderon finished outside the points in 14th ahead of Red Bull rookie Niko Kari, while Giuliano Alesi – Formula 1 winner Jean’s son – finished 17th.
