GP3 – Jenzer Motorsport win in Barcelona

Nirei Fukuzumi has dominated his rivals for his first GP3 Series win this afternoon at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, leading a close fight with ART teammate Jack Aitken before the Briton suffered a mechanical gremlin which eased the pressure on the Japanese driver, who then flew to a 7 second victory over Leonardo Pulcini and Alessio Lorandi.

The race took place under scorching conditions, with front row starters Aitken and Fukuzumi storming off when the lights went out towards turn one: the Honda development driver had the outside line as they ran three abreast with Dorian Boccolacci and nabbed the lead into turn two, with the Frenchman running wide at turn two and allowing Pulcini a run through to P3.

Aitken and Fukuzumi were swapping fastest laps as they looked for any advantage over the other, pulling away from the rest of the field as they did, while further back Lorandi was on a charge: moving up a spot to P6 off the line, the Italian mugged Arjun Maini for 5th on lap 9 and ran through Boccolacci 4 laps later as the battle for the lead intensified.

But the fight came to an end on lap 16 as Aitken stuttered on track before being slowly swallowed up by his pursuers as he limped back to the pits and retirement: with the pressure now off Fukuzumi soared to the flag, while the battle shifted to the two Italian rivals behind him. Lorandi was all over the rear wing of his countryman for the closing laps, but to no avail: Pulcini was impervious to attack and punched the air as he crossed the line in P2.

Behind them George Russell had stayed out of trouble and preserved his tyres to push up to 4th place at the flag, just holding off teammate Anthoine Hubert as he did so, while Boccolacci will have picked up a lot of lessons on his way to P6, denying Maini at the end of the race. Further back Campos pair Raoul Hyman and Marcos Siebert had a huge fight over the closing laps for team bragging rights, with the South African just holding on for 8th and reverse pole when Santino Ferrucci got in the mix, nicking P9 from Siebert at the final corner.

Arjun Maini has dominated this morning’s race 2 at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, easily grabbing the lead into turn one when the lights went out before leaving his rivals floundering with a mature and impressive sprint all the way to the flag to win by 6 seconds from Dorian Boccolacci and Alessio Lorandi.

The victory was set up at the start, which opened under clear but cool conditions with the grid lying in the shadow of the giant front straight stadium: poleman Raoul Hyman made a poor getaway with Boccolacci in P3 making a strong start but being stuck behind the South African, handing Maini a clear run to the first corner. The Frenchman pushed the Indian hard for the lead but Maini was equal to the challenge, while behind them Hyman was looking in his mirrors at the coming menace of the ART threat looming there.

Anthoine Hubert soon disposed of Hyman and was looking to get into the mix of the fight for the lead, but in front of him Maini and Boccolacci were running side by side all around the circuit, which was only resolved when a small touch saw the Frenchman stumble, falling back towards his countryman and allowing the Indian to scamper away.

Further back and Lorandi was on a charge: the Italian was repeating his impressive speed from yesterday’s race to easily dispatch Hyman before focussing on Hubert, easing by the Frenchman at turn 1 with 5 laps to go and was looking towards Boccolacci, although he was running out of time to make a real challenge.

At the flag all the applause was for Maini, who celebrated his new alliance with Haas F1 by bringing home Jenzer’s first win since 2012 and easily dominated his rivals all race long. Boccolacci held off the Lorandi charge to grab P2 by a second, with Hubert joined in the closing stages by teammates George Russell and Nirei Fukuzumi, with Hyman holding on for P7 ahead of Santino Ferrucci in the final points position.

Fukuzumi leads the drivers’ title fight after Round 1 on 29 points ahead of Lorandi on 25, Maini on 21 with Boccolacci, Russell and Hubert all on 20 points ahead of Leonardo Pulcini on 18, while the teams’ fight has ART Grand Prix stake an early lead on 73 points ahead of Jenzer Motorsport on 46, Trident on 20 and Arden International on 18 points ahead of Round 2 of the series at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.