Robert Shwartzman, first winner in the 2017 season, Grégoire Saucy 12th

First pole for Shwartzman

Under bright blue skies, qualifying went the way of the second group on track. Qualifying in Group B, Robert Schwartzman took the pole with a time of 1:48.506 versus the 149.051 set by Gabriel Aubry in Group A. Will Palmer (R-ace GP) and Sacha Fenestraz started from row two. Alex Peroni (Fortec Motorsports), Max Defourny (R-ace GP) and rookies Yifei Ye (Josef Kaufmann Racing) and Max Fewtrell were next on the grid.

The Russian keeps his cool

At the start, the positions remained unchanged before the safety car was called into service following contact between Ghislain Cordeel (Arden Motorsport) and Rodrigo Pflucker (AVF by Adrián Vallés). On lap five, Robert Shwartzman maintained the lead at the re-start, while Sacha Fenestraz passed Will Palmer and Gabriel Aubry to move up to second place. Chinese member of the Renault Sport Academy, Sun Yue Yang (JD Motorsport) stopped on track after contact resulted in another safety car. When the race resumed, Sacha Fenestaz tried unsuccessfully to intimidate the race leader. The race was interrupted just after when Neil Verhagen (MP Motorsport) went off at Curva Grande. The American Red Bull Junior Team driver walked away uninjured. The red flag froze the standings at the end of lap nine. Robert Schwartzman took the win ahead of Sacha Fenestraz and Gabriel Aubry. Will Palmer was fourth, followed by Max Defourny, who surprised Alex Peroni on lap six. Henrique Chaves (AVF by Adrián Vallés) was seventh, ahead of rookies Max Fewtrell, Yifei Ye (Josef Kaufmann Racing) and Red Bull Junior Team driver Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport). And, for his first race in the Series, Grégoire Saucy finished the race 12th. Result