Ferrari Formula 1 academy driver Callum Ilott has controlled GP3’s Austrian feature race to claim the lead of the drivers’ standings for the first time.
Ilott led all 24 laps on his way to a first feature victory, gapping Leonardo Pulcini by 4.5 seconds at the chequered flag.
This result gives Ilott the championship lead by two points after team-mates Anthoine Hubert and Nikita Mazepin made contact when fighting for lowly top 10 positions.
Mazepin dropped behind the Frenchman in 12th at the start after the Russian’s rear-right tyre collided with the front-left of Pedro Piquet at the Turn 1 right-hander, resulting in him going off-track.
Hubert made his way to eighth and placed behind David Beckmann before Hubert’s right-rear was hit by the front-left of Mazepin at the right of Turn 9, sending him spinning to 18th and Mazepin down to 13th.
The Frenchman looked set to limit the damage to his previous 14-point advantage, but both failed to score.
Pulcini found his way to third in the early laps by passing Jake Hughes and was briefly under investigation by the stewards for overtaking under a safety-car period when Joey Mawson came to a halt at Turn 1 on the opening lap.
No further action was taken against the Italian, who then passed compatriot Alessio Lorandi for the runners-up position with the use of DRS at the Turn 4 right turn.
Lorandi, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, maintained position despite much pressure from behind to claim his first podium of 2018.
His chances of a podium spectacularly disappeared for one lap, however, as drivers were told to follow the safety car through the pitlane, and he was the only person to do this from second.
This dropped him to 14th before stewards allowed him to retake his place before the restart on lap 3.
Piquet took fourth for his best feature race finish of the year, passing Hughes around the outside of the right-handed Turn 3.
Hughes maintained his place in the top five despite pressure from Ferrari-backed Giuliano Alesi and Ryan Tveter, who finished sixth and seventh.
David Beckmann made contact with the right-hand sidepod and tyre of team-mate Juan Manuel Correa when battling for seventh after fierce defending from Correa, but continued to hold off Simo Laaksonen for sprint race pole in eighth.
Dorian Boccolacci completed the top 10, finishing just 0.7s ahead of team-mate Niko Kari after falling from the top five when going wide at Turn 1 early on.
Sauber F1 test driver Tatiana Calderon finished in 12th, with Mazepin completing the race in 13th.
Renault-affiliated Hubert ended the event in 17th, picking up one place when debutant Devlin DeFrancesco pitted to retire on the penultimate lap.
DeFrancesco was classified ahead of Correa, who fell to 19th after pitting to replace a punctured right-rear.
