Jules Bianchi has extended his lead in the F3 Euroseries after securing his third victory of the season in the opening race at Zandvoort.

The ART Grand Prix driver took the chequered flag in the Netherlands ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Christian Vietoris, to open up his advantage over Vietoris in the standings to 14 points.

The race itself saw an early Safety Car period after Nick Tandy, Tiago Geronimi, Stefano Coletti, Mika Maki and Andrea Caldarelli crashed out on the opening lap, with Bianchi then opening up a lead when the race got underway.

A late Safety Car period when Christopher Zanella suffered a spin saw the field close up behind Bianchi but on the restart he was able to keep his lead while an error from Vietoris behind allowed Bottas to make a move on him to give ART a 1-2 finish.

“My start wasn't that good, but I could keep my first position,” Bianchi said, “and the race wasn't easy. When the safety car came out the second time, I was a little bit angry, because I already had a seven seconds' lead. I am also happy that I succeeded in giving Mercedes its 100th victory.”



Behind the top three, Jean-Karl Vernay took fourth place from Esteban Gutierrez and Henkie Waldschmidt, while Carlin rookie Jake Rosenzweig and Sam Bird completed the points scorers and will share the front row of the grid for the second race of the weekend.