Tambay drives stellar race to take victory in Spa

On a tricky track with most parts wet and few dry, the Manor Racing driver on slick held off a charging Alexander Rossi on wet tyres to take his maiden win in the Series. The American’s second place finish helped seal the Teams’ title for ART Grand Prix with one round remaining. 

Overnight penalties meant Jenzer Motorsport’s Simon Trummer started on reverse pole. The Swiss driver made a good start when the lights turned green, but before the end of the first lap the #24 car was shown a black and orange flag for a mechanical problem and had to return to the pits. Meanwhile Carlin’s Dean Smith slotted into second ahead of a slow starting Pedro Nunes for ART who then clashed with Status GP’s Robert Wickens putting the title contender down into twenty-fourth position and way out of the points. By lap 2 Series leader Esteban Gutierrez had already made his way up into ninth spot after starting sixteenth.   

After torrential downpours in yesterday’s Race 1 the field were hopeful of a dry race, but by lap 4 the rain began to fall. Wickens was first in the pits to change to wet tyres, and was quickly followed by the remainder of the field – it was only Tambay who stayed out on track on slick tyres. Gutierrez lost time in the pits having to cue for tyres behind teammate Rossi.

The promised rain was still only light and Tambay being the only who did not pit for new rubber first enjoyed a comfortable gap that however shrunk quickly with Miki Monras and Rossi gunning for the Frenchman. As the race entered the final minutes Rossi had passed Monras and put immense pressure on the Virgin racer. Tambay kept his cool and held off the American until the finish line to take a maiden GP3 win.

Monras took the final podium spot for MW Arden making up for the team’s disappointment yesterday. Smith eventually finished fourth ahead of Adrian Quaife-Hobbs. Nico Muller took the final point of the race. Series leader Esteban Gutierrez finished in seventh just missing out on a point ahead of RSC Mucke’s Tobias Hegewald, Addax Team’s Felipe Guimares and Tech CRS GP’s Oliver Oakes. Despite finishing twelfth, Wickens’ championship hopes are still well and truly alive and the fight will go down to the wire in Monza. Gutiérrez remains 18 points ahead of Wickens with 20 points still up for grabs.

The final race of the season is in two weeks at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza on September 10th – 12th.