Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Media Service
Honda-backed GP2 ace Nobuharu Matsushita scored a commanding victory in the opening race of the MRF Challenge at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.
After beating Formula 3 frontrunner Jake Dennis to pole position by nearly four tenths of a second, Matsushita quickly opened up a five-second lead at the start of the race as Pietro Fittipaldi snatched second from Dennis.
The Japanese driver’s gap was eliminated by the appearance of a safety car to recover the car of Laura Tillett, but he pulled a 4.4-second advantage over Fittipaldi again before the finish.
Fittipaldi held off his fellow F3 racer Dennis by three tenths of a second at the finish line to take second.
Russian Nikita Troitskiy took fourth after repassing Tatiana Calderon, while Tarun Reddy?climbed from ninth to sixth early on.
Ex-GP3 driver Sebastian Balthasar beat Sean Walkinshaw to seventh, while Alice Powell won a race-long scrap with Harrison Newey over ninth.
Single-seater debutant Max Fewtrell fell to the back of the 17-car pack on the opening lap but recovered to 11th, getting ahead of Nerses Isaakyan and Dylan Young on the final lap as the latter was eliminated.
Race results
| Pos | Driver | Gap |
| 1 | Nobuharu Matsushita | 10 laps |
| 2 | Pietro Fittipaldi | +4.453 |
| 3 | Jake Dennis | +4.760 |
| 4 | Nikita Troitskiy | +8.672 |
| 5 | Tatiana Calderon | +8.844 |
| 6 | Tarun Reddy | +12.021 |
| 7 | Sebastian Balthasar | +13.007 |
| 8 | Sean Walkinshaw | +13.640 |
| 9 | Alice Powell | +16.416 |
| 10 | Harrison Newey | +16.530 |
| 11 | Max Fewtrell | +24.351 |
| 12 | Nerses Isaakyan | +27.324 |
| 13 | Matt Draper | +31.676 |
| 14 | Arjun Narendran | +40.296 |
| 15 | Dylan Young | +9 laps |
| 16 | Karthhik Tarani | +3 laps |
| 17 | Laura Tillet | +2 laps |