New Zealand’s Mitch Evans goes into next weekend’s final two races during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza as the GP3 Series overall leader. At Spa in Belgium at the weekend Evans extended his championship lead to 21.5 pts.

Four points for being the fastest qualifier and a podium finish in the shortened Saturday race at Spa increased his lead by 4.5 pts. There is a maximum of 48 pts to be won in Italy next weekend.

Starting sixth on the reverse top eight grid for Sunday’s 12 lap race, Evans looked to be heading for more points until a clash with Portugal’s Antonio Felix da Costa on the fourth lap.

From a slow start, Evans initially dropped to eighth but quickly recovered to be fourth at the end of the first lap. Meanwhile, his leading rival Aaro Vainio had dropped right to the back of the 26 car field after tangling with another car.

However the Kiwi’s opportunity to take more points from Vainio were dashed after the coming together with Felix da Costa who had challenged Evans on the outside line at the infamous Bus Stop Chicane.

“He just came across on me and hit my left front. It upset the toe out and castor because the steering wheel was crooked for the rest of the race and the car wouldn’t turn in at corners,” said Evans.

“The car wasn’t overly great from the start and I was getting swamped by everyone down the straights,” commented Evans. “We’d been super strong in qualifying but we lost that pace in both the races last weekend.”

Evans dropped back down the field in the remaining 11 laps to finish outside the points in 15th with Vainio recovering to finish one place ahead.

“It’s annoying as it was a good opportunity missed, but I look forward to Monza,: reflected Evans. It was only his fourth finish outside the points from 14 races to date this season.

While Evans and Vainio both came away with no points, the Finn was overtaken by Felix da Costa who moves into second place in 16 race Championship.

Evans’ Arden team mate Matias Laine leapt into the lead at the start, and although reversed-grid poleman Lewis Williamson briefly grabbed it back at La Source, Laine out dragged him on the downhill swoop to Eau Rouge.

After a poor start, Conor Daly passed Tio Ellinas and Williamson on the opening lap to take second. Ellinas pushed Vainio into a spin at Les Combes and the hapless Finn rejoined 25th and last.
Williamson re passed Daly on lap two while Felix da Costa set a sequence of fastest laps to chase down the duelling pair ahead of him.

Evans meanwhile was tumbling down the lap chart because of his a sudden slump in pace, and would eventually be passed by the recovering Vainio. Williamson cracked under Daly’s pressure on lap eight, and then fell from second to seventh.

Da Costa chased down Daly, and grabbed second with two laps remaining. He trimmed the gap to race winner Laine to 2.4s by the finish to keep his title hopes alive. Laine became the eighth different winner from the 14 GP3 races in 2012.

Daly finished third, ahead of Alex Fontana, Saturday’s winner Daniel Abt (delayed by the Ellinas/Vainio collision on lap one), Patric Niederhauser, Williamson and Will Buller.

GP3 Series Points (After 14 of 16 races)

1. Mitch Evans New Zealand 147.5
2. Antonio Felix da Costa Portugal 126
3. Aaro Vainio Finland 123
4. Daniel Abt Germany 112.5
5. Connor Daly United States 94
6. Patric Niederhauser Switzerland 91
7. Matias Laine Finland 90
8. Tio Ellinas Cyprus 64
9. Kevin Ceccon Italy 56
10. Marlon Stockinger Philippines 41

GP3 Series – Round 7
Race 14 – Reverse top 8 grid
Result – 12 laps:
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Matias Laine MW Arden 26m39.329s
2. Antonio Felix da Costa Carlin + 2.404s
3. Conor Daly Lotus + 3.460s
4. Alex Fontana Jenzer + 7.151s
5. Daniel Abt Lotus + 8.494s
6. Patric Niederhauser Jenzer + 9.671s
7. Lewis Williamson Status + 10.961s
8. Will Buller Carlin + 17.259s
9. Giovanni Venturini Trident + 18.754s
10. Tamas Pal Kiss Atech CRS + 19.460s
11. Alex Brundle Carlin + 19.828s
12. Alice Powell Status + 22.462s
13. Robert Visoiu Jenzer + 23.628s
14. Aaro Vainio Lotus + 26.226s
15. Mitch Evans MW Arden + 28.547s
16. Marlon Stockinger Status + 29.267s
17. John Wartique Atech CRS + 29.469s
18. Dmitry Suranovich Manor + 30.471s
19. Vicky Piria Trident + 31.849s
20. Kevin Ceccon Manor + 33.967s
22. Ethan Ringel Atech CRS + 34.451s
23. Carmen Jorda Ocean + 54.689s
Retirements:
David Fumanelli MW Arden 6 laps
Tio Ellinas Manor 4 laps