Abu Dhabi GP3: Kirchhofer wins penultimate race after Ocon penalty

Ocon needed to outscore Luca Ghiotto by 16 points to wrap up the title with a race to spare, and was in position to do so at one stage.

But a five-second penalty for an early track limits offence meant that the Frenchman, who led every lap of the race, did not even get a podium finish.

As the lights went out, Ocon got a solid enough start off pole position but it was a better getaway for Kevin Ceccon - and the Italian looked set to challenge the Frenchman into Turn 1.

Defending the spot, Ocon attempted to take a wider line and ended up running off-track on the outside of the corner, keeping his foot stuck in and re-emerging with a solid lead before Turn 2.

Ideally for him, rival Ghiotto had a miserable start, slipping behind the Koiranen machine of Jimmy Eriksson - and then allowing Emil Bernstorff through as well.

As Bernstorff cleared Eriksson, Ghiotto looked to do the same, but did not get the chance, the safety car coming out for the stranded car of Adderly Fong.

Ocon headed the restart, with Ghiotto divebombed by Campos driver Alex Palou into Turn 1 - albeit the Trident man stuck to his line and was back into sixth a corner later.

Subsequently, his chances took an upturn when the stewards announced an investigation into Ocon's Turn 1 move at the start - and immediately levied the Frenchman with a penalty.

On Lap 8, Ghiotto - who appeared to be struggling for pure pace at that stage - inherited a spot when Ceccon came to a halt out of P2, bringing out the virtual safety car.

The status quo was then maintained at the restart, although Ghiotto was suddenly in with a chance of finishing ahead of Ocon.

Needing to be within five seconds, he got as close as 5.4s, but couldn't make further inroads - and then had to give up on chasing Ocon after a massive lock-up on lap 15, which put him under pressure from Matt Parry.

Meanwhile, Ocon himself attempted a late push to pull a gap and gain position in the race classification, but despite second-placed Kirchhofer coming under pressure from Bernstorff, the duo kept up enough to take advantage of the Frenchman's penalty at the chequered flag - as did Eriksson.

Ghiotto took fifth ahead of Parry, Ferrari junior Antonio Fuoco and Palou, who will start from reverse-grid pole tomorrow.

Rookie Matevos Isaakyan scored his maiden points in ninth, with Artur Janosz making up the points-scoring top 10.

An early benchmark lap from Ocon was unheaded, giving him two additional points at the end and placing him six points clear of Ghiotto before the decider.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time/Delay
1	Marvin Kirchhofer	ART Grand Prix	38'13.565
2	Emil Bernstorff	Arden International	0.618
3	Jimmy Eriksson	Koiranen GP	1.299
4	Esteban Ocon	ART Grand Prix	1.973
5	Luca Ghiotto	Trident	5.407
6	Matt Parry	Koiranen GP	6.694
7	Antonio Fuoco	Carlin	14.728
8	Alex Palou	Campos Racing	15.382
9	Matevos Isaakyan	Koiranen GP	15.946
10	Artur Janosz	Trident	17.538
11	Pal Varhaug	Jenzer Motorsport	18.810
12	Ralph Boschung	Jenzer Motorsport	19.274
13	Seb Morris	Status Grand Prix	20.244
14	Mitch Gilbert	Carlin	21.205
15	Alex Fontana	Status Grand Prix	21.760
16	Matheo Tuscher	Jenzer Motorsport	24.542
17	Sandy Stuvik	Status Grand Prix	32.754
18	Alex Bosak	Arden International	36.882
19	Zaid Ashkanani	Campos Racing	39.805
20	Michele Beretta	Trident	1'43.964
Ret	Kevin Ceccon	Arden International
Ret	Alfonso Celis	ART Grand Prix
Ret	Adderly Fong	Carlin
DNS	Konstantin Tereshchenko	Campos Racing