James Jakes has revived his Formula 3 Euroseries hopes after making victory look remarkably easy at Pau while others crashed around him.
Indeed, while Jakes led every revolution of the race from pole position, he was one of just ten cars to finish on the same lap after a race that was full of incident from the word go. In all, 20 cars would fail to make the finish.
It was the result Jakes needed though, scoring the maximum for pole position and the race win, a result that launches him back up the driver standings and gives him a fighting chance of the title following two pointless rounds in Germany and Italy.
The leader of those standings though, now comes in the form of the ultra-consistent Edoardo Mortara, who added a second place to his run of top four finishes in the first five races. It is also a milestone in that it sees a Volkswagen-powered car go top of the standings outright.
His ascendancy came after Mika Maki, the driver Mortara had previously shared the championship lead with, crashed out on lap two. The Finn had made a great start to run second, but is thought to have made contact with another driver before going off.
Elsewhere, carnage ensued as drivers struggled around the tight confines of the French circuit, something that wasn't helped by the damp conditions.
As such, there were some sterling drives to commend, not least Jon Lancaster, who scored his first ever F3 podium after battling his way up from 12th on the grid. It was not entirely done through good fortune though, the young Brit making an impressive pass on Franck Mailleux to snatch third and run Jakes and Mortara close to the finish.
Mailleux held on for fourth to be the best of the French contingent, ahead of Christian Vietoris whose fifth place for SG Formula in their home race helped him jump back up the leaderboard.
After a torrid time in qualifying, Prema Powerteam have good reason to celebrate too after Dani Clos and Renger van der Zande defied their 26th and 24th respective starting places to cross the line an outstanding sixth and eighth.
![James Jakes - ART Grand Prix Mercedes [pic credit: F3 Euroseries Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/446865.jpg)
