Marussia Manor Racing’s Adrian Quaife-Hobbs took his maiden GP3 Series victory today, after a flying start from the Brit saw him take the lead when the lights went out. MW Arden locked out the rest of the podium with Lewis Williamson finishing second and Mitch Evans third. Quaife-Hobbs stormed off the line to pass both Addax Team’s Dean Smith and polesitter Williamson before the first corner. Status Grand Prix didn’t have a good start to the race; Alexander Sims received a 10 spot grid penalty before the race was underway for a collision in qualifying, and before the first lap was over both Antonio Felix Da Costa and Ivan Lukashevich were in the pits. A brief safety car period ensued after different incidents on lap 1 saw MW Arden’s Simon Trummer, Jenzer’s Maxim Zimin and Tech 1 Racing’s Thomas Hylkema retire from the race.    The safety was out for just one lap before the field was back to racing. Quaife-Hobbs held onto his lead at the re-start, followed by Smith, Williamson, Evans, Gabby Chaves, Lotus ART’s Valtteri Bottas and the Finn’s teammate James Calado. Alexander Sims was on a charge; the Brit had already moved from P16 to P11 in the first lap and was soon challenging Dillmann for P8. Sims eventually made the pass, but there was contact between the two in the process.     Back at the front Quaife-Hobbs had the race under control, and Smith was running in a lonely second. Meanwhile teammates Williamson and Evans were locked in a battle for the final podium spot which would continue until the chequered flag. Sims had found a way past Calado for seventh and had his sights firmly set on Bottas. Just two laps from the end Sims found himself in a Lotus ART sandwich as Calado took advantage of the battle and moved up behind to try and gain back his lost position. Sims was eventually victorious in the three-way fight, with Bottas and Calado slotting into seventh and eighth. By the end of the last lap Quaife-Hobbs was 6.5 seconds in the lead of the race and took a dominant first win. Dean Smith’s Addax car slowed during the final lap and the Brit missed out a podium spot. The MW Arden duo of Williamson and Evans capitalized to take the final two steps on the podium followed by Chaves in fourth. Smith finished fifth ahead of a well recovered Sims in sixth, Bottas and Calado who will start Race 2 tomorrow from reverse-pole. Evans’ podium moves the MW Arden driver into the lead of Series with 23 points, 1 point ahead of Melker.    Race 1 results:

DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	10	A. QUAIFE-HOBBS	GBR	Marussia Manor Racing	14	28:49.603
2	28	L. WILLIAMSON	GBR	MW Arden	14	28:56.150	6.547
3	26	M. EVANS	NZL	MW Arden	14	28:57.009	7.406
4	24	G. CHAVES	COL	Addax Team	14	29:01.006	11.403
5	25	D. SMITH	GBR	Addax Team	14	29:03.918	14.315
6	4	A. SIMS	GBR	Status Grand Prix	14	29:06.625	17.022
7	2	V. BOTTAS	FIN	Lotus ART	14	29:08.421	18.818
8	3	J. CALADO	GBR	Lotus ART	14	29:08.942	19.339
9	21	N. YELLOLY	GBR	Atech CRS GP	14	29:16.440	26.837
10	16	L. CORDEIRO	BRA	Carlin	14	29:17.945	28.342
11	22	Z. AMBERG	SUI	Atech CRS GP	14	29:25.615	36.012
12	14	C. DALY	USA	Carlin	14	29:26.834	37.231
13	9	V. GHIRELLI	ITA	Jenzer Motorsport	14	29:26.844	37.241
14	20	M. STOCKINGER	PHI	Atech CRS GP	14	29:28.958	39.355
15	15	D. MORAD	CAN	Carlin	14	29:29.734	40.131
16	19	T. PAL KISS	HUN	Tech 1 Racing	14	29:31.222	41.619
17	12	M. LAINE	FIN	Marussia Manor Racing	14	29.32.303	42.700
18	29	L. BACHETA	GBR	RSC Mucke Motorsport	14	29:37.671	48.068
19	11	R. HARYANTO	INA	Marussia Manor Racing	14	29:48.537	58.934
20	23	T. DILLMANN	FRA	Addax Team	14	30:01.767	72.164
NC
31	N. MELKER	NED	RSC Mucke Motorsport	8	17:14.757	DNF
17	A. VAINIO	FIN	Tech 1 Racing	3	6:58.183	DNF
1	P. NUNES	BRA	Lotus ART	3	6:58.798	DNF
7	N. MULLER	SUI	Jenzer Motorsport	1	2:22.423	DNF
30	M. CHRISTENSEN	DEN	RSC Mucke Motorsport	1	2:37.948	DNF
27	S. TRUMMER	SUI	MW Arden	0	DNF
6	I. LUKASHEVICH	RUS	Status Grand Prix	0	DNF
8	M. ZIMIN	RUS	Jenzer Motorsport	0	DNF
5	A. FELIX DA COSTA	POR	Status Grand Prix	0	DNF
18	T. HYLKEMA	NED	Tech 1 Racing	0	DNF
FASTEST LAP
10	A. QUAIFE-HOBBS	GBR	Marussia Manor Racing	1:59.663	Lap 8