Ilott moves into GP3 points lead with commanding Austria win
Ferrari Formula 1 protege Callum Ilott moved into the lead of the 2018 GP3 championship after breezing to a dominant win at the Red Bull Ring.
The ART Grand Prix controlled proceedings throughout as he led every lap to make it back-to-back victories in 2018 and become the first driver to record two wins this season, following on from his breakthrough GP3 triumph at Paul Ricard last weekend.
Ferrari Formula 1 protege Callum Ilott moved into the lead of the 2018 GP3 championship after breezing to a dominant win at the Red Bull Ring.
The ART Grand Prix controlled proceedings throughout as he led every lap to make it back-to-back victories in 2018 and become the first driver to record two wins this season, following on from his breakthrough GP3 triumph at Paul Ricard last weekend.
Campos Racing’s Leonardi Pulcini crossed the line over four seconds adrift of Ilott to claim his first podium finish of the season in second, having risen from fourth on the grid, ahead of fellow Italian Alessio Lorandi, who competed the rostrum with his best result of the campaign so far.
Victory sees the Briton take over at the top of the drivers' standings from Anthoine Hubert, who suffered a nightmare race after being wiped out by ART teammate Nikita Mazepin as he looked to recover from a disastrous qualifying.
Ilott made a strong start to retain his lead on the short-burst to Turn 1, while Lorandi got the better of Hughes to jump into second place. Further behind, Pedro Piquet and ART’s Mazepin collided at Turn 1, dropping the latter out of the points, as Joey Mawson became stranded in his Arden, causing an early Safety Car to be deployed.
A bizarre moment under the Safety Car saw Lorandi enter the pitlane as instructed with the rest of the field remaining on track, meaning the Italian dropped right to the back of the grid. Race control enabled him to reclaim his position before the restart, which Ilott mastered to check out into a commanding lead he never looked back on.
Pedro Piquet fell narrowly shy of a second consecutive podium finish as he took fourth, ahead of front-row starter Jake Hughes, with the ART driver fading as the race went on to finish fifth, just 0.6s clear of Trident’s Giuliano Alesi.
Ryan Tveter continued his promising start to the weekend to take his first points of the season in seventh, while David Beckmann came out on top of a thrilling wheel-to-wheel battle with Simo Laaksonen to snatch eighth.
That will hand the Jenzer driver reverse grid pole for race two, with Laaksonen sharing the front-row alongside him. MP Motorsport’s Dorian Boccolacci was unable to replicate the level of performance he achieved in France as he rounded out the top 10.
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