Monza GP3: Beckmann dominates chaotic wet race

Beckmann converted his pole position into a Turn 1 lead by being the only driver from the first two rows to make the corner, as Leonardo Pulcini, Anthoine Hubert, Juan Manuel Correa, as well as Tatiana Calderon, all cut the chicane.

The Trident driver then quickly pulled away from first Pulcini, and then Hubert when the Frenchman passed the Italian on Lap 3, and Beckmann kept the gap around five seconds to win with ease.

Hubert also spent the race on his own in second and extended his points lead to 29 over ART teammate Callum Ilott.

Pulcini on the other hand had to defend third from Nikita Mazepin and Ilott - the ART duo switching positions when the Russian ran wide at the Roggia chicane - for most of the race.

He finally looked set to secure the final podium position only to starting losing places in dramatic fashion on the penultimate lap with a gearbox problem and drop outside of the top 10.

Ilott inherited third and minimised his losses in the championship by finishing right behind Hubert.

Simo Laaksonen (Campos) successfully edged ahead of Mazepin for fourth on the penultimate lap when the latter ran wide at the opening chicane - his last of numerous off-track excursions.

The Finn secured his best result in GP3 in fourth with Mazepin settling for fifth, followed by Trident duo Giuliano Alesi and Pedro Piquet.

MP's Richard Verschoor, who is spending his second weekend in GP3, will start Sunday's reverse-grid race from pole by finishing eighth. ART's Jake Hughes and Niko Kari (MP) completed the top 10.

Devlin DeFrancesco hit Diego Menchaca at the end of the main straight, prompting a brief virtual safety car stint, and the Mexican's retirement.

In a disastrous race for Jenzer, Correa spun at the Roggia chicane on the first lap, the American dropping to the rear of the field, before Calderon gradually slipped out of the points and finished a lowly 15th.

Arden duo Gabriel Aubry and Julien Falchero also failed to finish.

Race results:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time/Gap
1	David Beckmann	Trident	41'55.494
2	Anthoine Hubert	ART Grand Prix	6.018
3	Callum Ilott	ART Grand Prix	13.789
4	Simo Laaksonen	Campos Racing	15.886
5	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix	16.559
6	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	17.034
7	Pedro Piquet	Trident	23.042
8	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	26.049
9	Jake Hughes	ART Grand Prix	30.312
10	Niko Kari	MP Motorsport	34.788
11	Ryan Tveter	Trident	40.236
12	Joey Mawson	Arden International	40.396
13	Devlin DeFrancesco	MP Motorsport	42.687
14	Leonardo Pulcini	Campos Racing	43.391
15	Tatiana Calderon	Jenzer Motorsport	44.435
16	Jannes Fittje	Jenzer Motorsport	56.185
17	Juan Manuel Correa	Jenzer Motorsport	1'16.194
Ret	Diego Menchaca	Campos Racing	6 Laps
Ret	Julien Falchero	Arden International	7 Laps
Ret	Gabriel Aubry	Arden International	-