Red Bull junior Dan Ticktum claimed the lead of the European Formula 3 championship with victory in the opening race of the weekend at Silverstone.
Ticktum waited until the closing stages of the race to make a move on pole sitter Sacha Fenestraz, who had led for the first 15 laps of the 18 lap race.
As soon as he got ahead of the Renault junior, Ticktum pulled away from Fenestraz, finishing almost two seconds ahead.
Fenestraz finished second, comfortably ahead of Enaam Ahmed, who completed the podium.
Guanyu Zhou spent most of the race running third, close enough to Ticktum to take advantage of any fall out should the top two come together, but not putting pressure on the Motopark driver. But a left rear puncture in the closing stages of the race dropped him down the order and he came into the pits to retire.
Zhou was one of three Prema drivers to retire from the race. Mick Schumacher was forced to pit at the end of lap seven after suffering a puncture. A wide moment for Ralf Aron at the end of the hanger straight put the Estonian in the gravel, bringing out the full course yellows to clear his car.
Jonathan Aberdein inherited third from Zhou and was running comfortably in the podium position before he ran over the kerbs and damaged his suspension, dropping him down the order on the final lap. He finished fifth, just behind Juri Vips.
Marcus Armstrong, who entered the weekend a point ahead of Ticktum, struggled to make up positions after running wide early in the race. A brave move around the outside of Copse put him P8, and he picked up positions as he team-mates retired to finish sixth.
Alex Palou, Robert Shvartzman, Jehan Daruvala, and Fabio Scherer completed the top 10.
