Evans and Daly share the spoils as GP3 2012 gets underway

Pre-season GP3 title favourite Mitch Evans (MW Arden) opened the 2012 season with a feature race victory at Circuit de Catalunya before American hotshoe Conor Daly scored his maiden series triumph in the sprint.

Evans began Saturday's longer run fourth and found himself P3 at the end of the opening tour after leapfrogging Lotus ART pairing Daly and Aaro Vaiano. The third Lotus of Daniel Abt meanwhile had stolen the lead, making an unlikely charge from seventh on the grid to lead into turn one.

Unsurprisingly this turned out to be the result of a jumped start, the German thus receiving a drive-through penalty. Poleman Antonio Felix da Costa was set to re-take P1 but he too was adjudged to have moved before the lights went out, forcing him into the pits for the same punishment as Abt.

This handed Evans a comfortable lead. The Kiwi may well be able to rely on his talent alone to fight for this year's GP3 crown, but the sort of good luck he received in Spain will only make his task easier. He won by 2.6 seconds, despite his advantage being wiped out midway through the race by a safety car.

Marlon Stockinger (Status GP) took runner-up spot, the Filipino significantly bettering the tenth place that had previously been his best in GP3. Vaino completed the podium ahead of the impressive rookie Patric Niederhauser (Jenzer), who also recorded the fastest lap of the feature race.

The points-paying positions were rounded out by: Matias Laine (MW Arden); Daly; British Formula Renault graduate Tio Ellinas (Manor); Robert Visoiu (Jenzer); David Fumanelli (MW Arden); and Alex Brundle (Carlin).

The reverse-grid sprint race saw third-placed starter Daly serge ahead of Visoiu while Ellinas assumed the lead after another clear jump-start.

With Ellinas serving a drive-through Daly took the lead and, like Evans, made the most of it. The young American pulled away from Visoiu to take a comfortable win. Laine completed the podium ahead of Vainio and Niederhauser.

Abt and da Costa made up for their feature race woes by cutting through the field to take sixth and seventh respectively, with Alex Brundle again completing the points scorers.

Evans suffered an early puncture that put him out of contention. Nevertheless the Kiwi leads the standings on 25 points, two clear of Daly and Laine. The series' second round will see it make its maiden appearance at Monaco in two weeks time (May 26/27).

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James Weeks