ART Grand Prix’s Esteban Gutiérrez sailed to victory ­around the streets of Valencia. The Mexican dominated the race from the start and increased his Series lead to 16 points.

It was the perfect getaway for Gutiérrez and Status GP’s Robert Wickens, with both drivers managing to avoid the start line chaos that ensued behind them. After his previous disappointing race starts RSC Mucke Motorsport’s Nigel Melker held onto his fourth spot and was up the inside of third place man Jean-Eric Vergne at Tech 1, but sadly his change of fortune was short lived and the Dutchman was involved in an incident with Addax Teams’ Felipe Guimaraes. Further incidents on the opening lap saw five more race casualties including ART Grand Prix Series frontrunner Alexander Rossi.

Michael Christensen had a good start making the most of the incidents in front of him and putting pressure on Jean-Eric Vergne for third. However, by lap 4 the yellow flags were waving after the Dane pushed a bit too hard and hit barrier all on his own prematurely ending his race.  

Meanwhile Gutiérrez was banging in fastest laps and pulling out a gap over Wickens in second spot. Further down the field MW Arden’s Miki Monras, Manor Racing’s Rio Haryanto and Jenzer Motorsport’s Nico Muller were jostling for fifth spot. RSC Mucke Motorsport’s Tobias Hegewald was locked in battle with a Manor Racing’s James Jakes – the British driver making an outstanding start from 27th on the grid – giving Tech 1 Racing’s Stefano Coletti the perfect opportunity to slip up behind the two feuding racers.

At the mid way point Gutiérrez was leading Wickens by 2.5 seconds, Monras was out on his own in fifth and the battle for sixth was raging between Haryanto and Muller. Atech CRS GP’s Roberto Merhi had also move up into third ahead of Vergne. Man on a mission Jakes overtook Hegewald for the coveted 8th spot, and the Brit then pulled away from the German giving him the final point of the race and reverse pole position for Race 2 tomorrow. Hegewald then nearly lost his ninth place finish from a charging Coletti, but the RSC Mucke driver managed to hold on until the chequered flag.     

Out in front Wickens had been putting in fastest lap after fastest lap, but the leading man responded on his final lap of the race posting the best laptime of the race and taking a bonus point to help increase his Series points tally even further to 35 and even further reward his hard-working team who managed to have his car ready and flying for the race although he had crashed it earlier this morning in the barrier during qualifications. Wickens has moved up into second spot with 19 points, with ART driver Rossi now trailing the Canadian by 2 points.    

Race 2 action starts tomorrow morning at 09:25 local time, and after today’s action packed race you won’t want to miss it.

Position	#	DRIVER	TEAM	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	2	E. GUTIERREZ	ART Grand Prix	14	28:00.338
2	4	R. WICKENS	Status Grand Prix	14	28:02.822	2.484
3	29	R. MERHI	Atech CRS GP	14	28:09.037	8.699
4	28	J. VERGNE	Tech 1 Racing	14	28:11.972	11.63
5	21	M. MONRAS	MW Arden	14	28:12.368	12.03
6	8	R. HARYANTO	Manor Racing	14	28:21.170	20.83
7	25	N. MULLER	Jenzer Motorsport	14	28:21.753	21.42
8	7	J. JAKES	Manor Racing	14	28:23.673	23.34
9	12	T. HEGEWALD	RSC Muecke Motorsport	14	28:29.984	29.65
10	27	S. COLETTI	Tech 1 Racing	14	28:30.872	30.53
11	23	P. VARHAUG	Jenzer Motorsport	14	28:32.740	32.4
12	9	A. QUAIFE-HOBBS	Manor Racing	14	28:33.359	33.02
13	24	S. TRUMMER	Jenzer Motorsport	14	28:33.962	33.62
14	18	P. SANCHEZ LOPEZ	Addax Team	14	28:35.224	34.89
15	3	P. NUNES	ART Grand Prix	14	28:36.864	36.53
16	5	I. LUKASHEVICH	Status Grand Prix	14	28:45.992	45.65
17	15	D. SMITH	Carlin	14	28:46.209	45.654
18	19	M. BORTOLOTTI	Addax Team	14	28:48.679	48.34
19	6	D. MORAD	Status Grand Prix	14	28:49.568	49.23
20	31	V. GHIRELLI	Atech CRS GP	14	28:52.351	52.01
21	16	L. FORESTI	Carlin	14	28:53.631	53.29
				NC
	20	M. CHRISTENSEN	MW Arden	3	6:12.028	DNF
	10	N. MELKER	RSC Muecke Motorsport	0		DNF
	17	F. GUIMARAES	Addax Team	0		DNF
	26	D. SECHELARIU	Tech 1 Racing	0		DNF
	30	O. OAKES	Atech CRS GP	0		DNF
	1	A. ROSSI	ART Grand Prix	0		DNF
	14	J. NEWGARDEN	Carlin	0		DNF
	22	L. CORDEIRO	MW Arden	0		DNF
	11	R. VAN DER ZANDE	RSC Muecke Motorsport	0		DNF
	2	E. GUTIERREZ	ART Grand Prix	FL	1:58.748 lap 14