Evans eases to
victory in Valencia
23 June 2012 New
Zealander Mitch Evans raced to his third win of his GP3 career
at the Valencia Street Circuit in Race 1. After starting from
pole, Evans also claimed the fastest lap making it a perfect
start to his weekend in Spain.
Evans made a
clean getaway and retained P1 while Vainio got the jump on
Fumanelli to sneak into P2. Tio Ellinas (Marussia Manor Racing)
made a great start from fifth on the grid and by the end of the
first lap he was into third, displacing Fumanelli. It was a lively
start with Robert Visoiu (Jenzer Motorsport) running into the back
of Tamas Pal Kiss which ended his race prematurely. Status Grand
Prix also had a nightmare at thebeginning to their race after
Alice Powell made contact with the rear of teammate Marlon
Stockinger which brought them both into the pits. Stockinger
rejoined a lap down with Powell also losing a lot of time.
Conor Daly who
started in P16 after a ten place grid penalty received a penalty
for a jump start after he had moved up to P13 in the race. Antonio
Felix Da Costa (Carlin), starting from P24 after a technical
infringement from qualifying, moved up to 12thposition
but after trying to pass Dmitry Suranovich (Marussia Manor Racing)
on the inside, the pair made contact which forced them both to
retire.
Evans continued
to lead Vainio and held a steady one second advantage for the
majority of the race while further down the field, the action was
fierce. All eyes were on the tasty battle between Kevin Ceccon
(Ocean Racing Technology) and Daniel Abt, with the Italian keen to
find a way past the German. Ceccon was trying every line and
managed to get through on the inside on several occasions only to
outbrake himself and have to give the position back.
A full report can
be read
here
|
.bmp)
