Sochi GP3: Pulcini wins as Mazepin beats Hubert

Despite cutting Turn 2 after the start, Pulcini kept the lead from pole and quickly pulled away from the ART duo of Callum Ilott and Hubert.

Hubert drove around Ilott on the outside line of the Turn 3-4 section for second a few laps into the race before the Briton lost another position to Giuliano Alesi on the same lap.

Ilott then ran off track while trying to re-pass Alesi and ended up losing a further two positions to Nikita Mazepin, who also cut the track but on the other side and thus didn't lose momentum, and Jake Hughes.

Mazepin then quickly demoted Alesi to third and spent the majority of the race with a two-second gap behind Hubert.

The local driver then dramatically improved his pace in the late stages, catching up with Hubert with two laps remaining, and making a move on the main straight.

The battle between the duo allowed Pulcini to take his first win of the season by 3.9s, with Mazepin, having also set the fastest time, cutting Hubert's points lead by five to 20.

Ilott continued to struggle in the second half of the race and lost positions to the charging Richard Verschoor and David Beckmann.

Verschoor even passed Hughes, although slightly cutting the track at Turn 2 in the process, but the Dutchman was not penalised for the move as he took fourth.

Hughes was set to take fifth but lost two positions on the last lap to Beckmann and Simo Laaksonen.

Ilott was fighting for reverse-grid pole in the dying stages before he ran off track and dropped as low as 13th.

It was Joey Mawson securing eighth, followed by Jenzer duo Juan Manuel Correa and Tatiana Calderon.

Like Ilott, Alesi also struggled for pace in the second half of the race and only finished 14th.

Ryan Tveter's Trident went slightly airborne after contact with Laaksonen at Turn 2 after the start and he eventually retired with one lap to go, while Diego Menchaca was out of the race straight after the start.

Race results

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Leonardo Pulcini	Campos Racing	20	38'56.960
2	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix	20	39'00.915	3.955
3	Anthoine Hubert	ART Grand Prix	20	39'03.997	7.037
4	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	20	39'05.274	8.314
5	David Beckmann	Trident	20	39'09.591	12.631
6	Simo Laaksonen	Campos Racing	20	39'10.402	13.442
7	Jake Hughes	ART Grand Prix	20	39'11.158	14.198
8	Joey Mawson	Arden International	20	39'21.044	24.084
9	Juan Manuel Correa	Jenzer Motorsport	20	39'22.463	25.503
10	Tatiana Calderon	Jenzer Motorsport	20	39'28.525	31.565
11	Gabriel Aubry	Arden International	20	39'28.933	31.973
12	Jannes Fittje	Jenzer Motorsport	20	39'30.116	33.156
13	Callum Ilott	ART Grand Prix	20	39'32.753	35.793
14	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	20	39'33.182	36.222
15	Pedro Piquet	Trident	20	39'34.674	37.714
16	Sacha Fenestraz	Arden International	20	39'35.372	38.412
17	Devlin DeFrancesco	MP Motorsport	20	39'36.317	39.357
18	Ryan Tveter	Trident	19	37'57.523	1 Lap
	Diego Menchaca	Campos Racing