GP3 championship leader Luca Ghiotto stormed to his fourth win of the season in Sochi which extends his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship.
Despite starting on pole position, Esteban Ocon was forced to settle for his eighth consecutive second-place finish.
Race one was scheduled to take place between Formula One practice three and Formula One qualifying but after Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz crashed heavily in FP3, the barrier was severely damaged thus it needed to be repaired.
Ocon made a fantastic start while the two drivers behind him on the grid, Matheo Tuscher and Kevin Ceccon, both stalled.
Ghiotto made a fantastic start from sixth on the grid and was up to second by the second corner.
The Italian then took the lead by passing Ocon into turn 13.
Ghiotto started to extend his lead over Ocon, but a safety car was deployed after Arden International team-mates Ceccon and Alex Bosak collided.
The Safety Car did not hamper Ghiotto’s momentum as he continued to extend his lead at the front of the field.
Emil Bernstorff completed the podium ahead of Alex Palou – who were in a race-long battle for third.
Two of the three Carlin drivers came home fifth and sixth, Jann Mardenborough coming home ahead of Antonio Fuoco.
Matt Parry, Jimmy Eriksson, Marvin Kirchhofer and Artur Janosz rounded out the top ten.
