Gutiérrez battles to Silverstone victory

The ART driver made the perfect start from pole position and looked like pulling away to take another dominant victory whilst Manor Racing teammates Rio Haryanto and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs battled for second spot. But the Mexican didn't have it all his own way. By the end of lap one Haryanto had lost and regained second place from his teammate and then set his sights firmly on Gutiérrez.

Esteban Gutierrez, (MEX, ART Grand Prix) celebrates victory on the podium. Credit: Jakob Ebrey/GP3 Media

There was drama at the start when James Jakes stalled his Manor Racing car and ended up dead last after qualifying eighth. Down the grid Addax Teams. Pablo Sanchez Lopez was given a drive through penalty for jumping the start from twenty-first.

Meanwhile a fast starting Alexander Rossi was up behind Nico Müller, pushing the Jenzer driver for fourth spot. This gave RSC Mücke driver Tobias Hegewald the opportunity to move up behind the battling pair, eventually catching and passing Rossi. Hegewald then put in successive fastest laps to stay ahead of the ART driver.

Haryanto kept up his pace in second and charged after Gutiérrez, putting in a succession of fastest laps, whilst drama unfolded behind when midway through the race Quaife-Hobbs went off track ending his home race prematurely. Müller inherited third spot and had to go defensive from a speedy Hegewald, the German getting a sniff of the final podium spot. The battle continued for the remainder of the race, turning into a three man fight with Rossi before the American went wide two laps from the end and had to settle for fifth.

Dean Smith finished in sixth spot for Carlin followed over the line by Status GP's Daniel Morad. Addax Teams' Mirko Bortolotti took the final point paying position and reverse pole position for Race 2 tomorrow. Fastest lap of the race went to Gutiérrez, the ART driver snatching the bonus point on his last lap of the race for good measure. Gutiérrez now leads the Series by 27 points ahead of Rio Haryanto who has moved up into second.

The action continues tomorrow at 08:30 with Race 2.

Full qualifying results:

Pos  #  Driver            Team                  Laps Time        Gap

1    2  E. GUTIERREZ      ART Grand Prix         14  26:40.761  
2    8  R. HARYANTO       Manor Racing           14  26:44.392   3.631
3   25  N. MULLER         Jenzer Motorsport      14  26:50.962  10.201
4   12  T. HEGEWALD       RSC Muecke Motorsport  14  26:53.090  12.329
5    1  A. ROSSI          ART Grand Prix         14  26:55.177  14.416
6   15  D. SMITH          Carlin                 14  26:56.160  15.399
7    6  D. MORAD          Status Grand Prix      14  26:58.727  17.966
8   19  M. BORTOLOTTI     Addax Team             14  26:59.370  18.609
9    4  R. WICKENS        Status Grand Prix      14  26:59.947  19.186
10  27  S. COLETTI        Tech 1 Racing          14  27:02.201  21.440
11  11  R. VAN DER ZANDE  RSC Muecke Motorsport  14  27:04.498  23.737
12  10  N. MELKER         RSC Muecke Motorsport  14  27:08.966  28.205
13  30  O. OAKES          Atech CRS GP           14  27:10.076  29.315
14  23  P. VARHAUG        Jenzer Motorsport      14  27:16.569  35.808
15  21  M. MONRAS         MW Arden               14  27:17.974  37.213
16  14  J. NEWGARDEN      Carlin                 14  27:22.488  41.727
17  24  S. TRUMMER        Jenzer Motorsport      14  27:23.199  42.438
18  16  L. FORESTI        Carlin                 14  27:26.734  45.973
19   5  I. LUKASHEVICH    Status Grand Prix      14  27:27.070  46.309
20  31  V. GHIRELLI       Atech CRS GP           14  27:31.990  51.229
21  18  P. SANCHEZ LOPEZ  Addax Team             14  27:39.738  58.977
NC                                                              
     7  J. JAKES          Manor Racing           11  24:03.442     DNF
    20  M. CHRISTENSEN    MW Arden                9  17:48.897     DNF
    28  D. JUNCADELLA     Tech 1 Racing           8  15:37.539     DNF
    22  L. CORDEIRO       MW Arden                8  15:55.492     DNF
     9  A. QUAIFE-HOBBS   Manor Racing            7  13:29.398     DNF
    29  R. MERHI          Atech CRS GP            3   9:08.175     DNF
    26  D. SECHELARIU     Tech 1 Racing           1   2:35.846     DNF
    17  F. GUIMARAES      Addax Team              0                DNF
     3  P. NUNES          ART Grand Prix          0                DNF

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