Red Bull youngster Alex Lynn led from start to finish as he claimed a comfortable victory in the first GP3 race at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Lynn led home Carlin team-mate Emil Bernstorff to increase his lead in the early stages of the championship, while Jimmy Eriksson finished an unchallenged third for Koiranen GP.
Lynn retained the lead at the start while Bernstorff jumped up to second as a collision behind them resulted in the deployment of the Safety Car.
Front row starter Alex Fontana bogged down and made contact with Patrick Kujala under braking for Turn 1, which pushed them into Dean Stoneman. The Briton ended up facing the wrong way on the exit kerb and was clipped by Robert Vișoiu, causing both of them – plus Fontana – to retire.
Lynn and Bernstorff romped away at the restart while behind them several drivers scrapped over the points-paying positions, with Eriksson leading Richie Stanaway, Marvin Kirchhöfer, Matheo Tuscher and Nick Yelloly.
Matters settled down with the Carlin duo swapping quickest lap times as the top 10 drivers began to spread out in a race which featured little action across the field.
Lynn eventually came home 2.7 seconds in front of Bernstorff, who in turn was comfortably clear of Eriksson.
Stanaway collected fourth place, ahead of Kirchhöfer, Tuscher, Yelloly and Luis Sá Silva, who will start from pole position for Sunday’s second encounter.
Kujala recovered from the first lap incident to finish ninth, while Patric Niederhauser rounded out the top 10.
Aside from the first corner collision, the other retirements occurred when Alfonso Celis Jr. slid into the back of Adderly Fong at Turn 2, while debutant Riccardo Agostini ran on the fringes of the top 10 before pulling off the circuit mid-race.
