Fuoco comeback stuns in GP3 dash GASLY AND KING KEEP THEIR CALM

GP3 Frenchman and English star grab the GP2 silverware

Antonio Fuoco starred in Sunday’s GP3 Series race after a storming recovery drive having fallen to eighth on the opening tour, while Alex Albon shone in Saturday’s longer race to take his second victory of the season.

Albon (ART Grand Prix) bolted away from pole in the opener with Sandy Stuvik’s Trident-run car slotting in behind, but Stuvik soon started to lose pace. That allowed Charles Leclerc (ART Grand Prix) into second.

Leclerc then set off in pursuit of Albon but never quite got close enough to mount a proper challenge and settled for second with Fuoco third.

Sunday’s race started on a wet road and poleman Arjun Maini (Jenzer) was mugged off the line by Stuvik, who led to Abbey. Star of the early laps, though, was Spaniard Alex Palou (Campos Racing) who worked his way through to the lead and edged away from the pack. Leclerc moved up to second with Fuoco third but, after two virtual safety car periods, Fuoco was the man on the move.

He got ahead of Leclerc at The Loop only for his French rival to get the cutback and repass him, but the Italian (a winner at Silverstone in FIA F3) soon stormed ahead around the outside in the Stadium.

He then started to zero in on Palou, as Nyck de Vries (ART Grand Prix) closed on Leclerc. As Palou made a mistake at Stowe and slithered wide, Fuoco took over the lead as de Vries edged past Leclerc.

The Dutchman then moved ahead of Palou, but an earlier clash with Ralph Boschung (Koiranen GP) earned him a five-second penalty. However, random officialdom meant the chequered flag was embarrassingly shown to the midfield pack on the penultimate lap meaning that the result had to be back-counted, confirming Fuoco as the winner from Palou and Leclerc, with de Vries in eighth.