Ralf Aron claimed his second victory of the weekend after a bold move on the pole sitter Dan Ticktum at the start of the race.
Aron, who started second, pulled alongside Ticktum on approach to the first corner, snatching the inside line. Ticktum couldn’t defend the position and Aron was able to take the lead before a safety car was brought out for a number of first lap incidents.
The first incident came at the first corner, as Ticktum was forced wide and made contact with Mick Schumacher, who was trying to pass around the outside. Schumacher was sent wide into the gravel, his steering broken.
Further along the lap, Jehan Daruvala suffered a spin and collected Hitech’s Enaam Ahmed. Daruvala, sporting a broken front wing, was able to limp back to the pits, but the damage to Ahmed’s car forced him to retire on the spot.
Ahmed’s team-mate Ben Hingley was also forced to retire on the opening lap after making heavy contact with the wall.
On the restart, Ticktum was unable to challenge Aron and the Prema driver set about building a gap while team-mate Marcus Armstrong and Guanyu Zhou put pressure on the Red Bull driver. Aron managed to finish 1.684s ahead of the next best driver to secure his third win of the season.
A small mistake sent Ticktum slightly wide, allowing Armstrong to take second. Zhou followed his team-mate past, making it an all Prema podium again while Ticktum defended against Alex Palou.
Another small mistake from Ticktum, this time a lock up, gave Palou the opportunity he needed to pass the pole sitter. Ferdinand Habsburg was able to pass Ticktum in the closing stages of the race, dropping the BRDC McLaren Autosport Award winner back to sixth.
Robert Shvartzman finished seventh, ahead of Juri Vips and Fabio Scherer.
