It’s becoming a habit since Hockenheim : José Garfias wins one race at every round. For the third time in a row, the Mexican has kept with the trend and this afternoon, he took Race 3 at Paul Ricard thanks to a perfect start and a masterful control of events. The Motopark driver reckoned: “I had a very good package here and could make good use of it.”
The race was eventful. Preston Lambert was on pole in the reversed grid, ahead of Pearson, Garfias, Barrichello and David, while Kucharczyk started last having received a 10-position penalty for the incident in the slowing lap of Race 2 (he hit Barrichello by distraction).
At the start, Pearson stalled and Garfias was able to take the lead from row 2 ahead of Lambert, Barrichello, David, de la Torre and Shin. The Korean was on a charge mode and was second by lap 5 ahead of Lambert and David. In lap 6 a contact between the American and the Sri Lankan promoted Kucharczyk to third, but more drama was in the script, as in lap 9, Shin went off-track after damaging a spoiler.
Garfias took victory ahead of Kucharczyk and Barrichello, with Stack and debuting Gino Trappa completing the top five. Shin and David would finish ninth and tenth, respectively, to the advantage of Kucharczyk, who is now the new leader in the standings.