GP3 Series
Sochi Autodrom, R2
With seven out of nine rounds done, the 2014 GP3 season was closing in on the end as it visited the Sochi Autodrom in Russia for the first time in history. Although eight drivers still stood with a chance to win the title, Alex Lynn had a convincing lead and the other seven had to be quick this weekend not to drop out.
Lynn?s closest rival Richie Stanaway led the free practice, but it was Dean Stoneman who picked up a fantastic pole, beating the whole field by more than four tenths. Stoneman converted it into a confident win in race one and, although Lynn was just seventh, only three of his rivals managed to finish ahead of him.
Swiss racer Patric Niederhauser started the sprint race from pole alongside Lynn, but as it turned out later, the starting order was not as important in this race as it usually is in GP3.
In the beginning Koiranen duo Jimmy Eriksson and Stoneman and ART?s Alex Fontana tried to take turn one three-wide, resulting in a broken suspension for the latter. Going into the wall, Fontana collected Riccardo Agostini, Pal Varhaug and Richie Stanaway, forcing all of them to retire and bringing out the red flag.
After the restart, Niederhauser led the race confidently ahead of Mardenborough but local driver Nikolay Martsenko stopped on-track to bring out the safety car. There were only two laps left when racing resumed.
Marvin Kirchhofer and Stoneman, who have been fighting through the field before, both cleared Mardenborough after the restart to take second and third and were right behind Niederhauser for the final lap.
The German was racy, trying to pass Niederhauser at almost every corner, which eventually saw him go wide. This allowed Stoneman to overtake him and the Brit immediately turned up side-by-side with Niederhauser.
But the Swiss driver held on to the lead to take his fourth GP3 victory. Stoneman took a close second, marking the highest single-round points tally of anyone in the series in 2014. Kirchhofer had to settle for third, despite finishing only 0.6s shy of Niederhauser.
Sochi’s debut weekend had some truly processional races, but, in the GP3 sprint, its enjoyed a true classic, rivalling some of the best races in the series history.
David Gruz