Spielberg F3.5: Vaxiviere holds off Deletraz for Race 1 win

Vaxiviere had a better launch off the line than pole-sitter Deletraz to take the lead with the latter also losing out to Egor Orudzhev before Turn 2.

However, the Renault protege fought back two laps later and, although a late move at Remus only resulted in a small contact, he eventually forced his way through Orudzhev.

Although Vaxiviere built a lead of 3.3s by then, Deletraz started to close in on the SMP Racing driver as he was now running in clean air.

He was less than a second behind in no time but Deletraz then spent the majority of the race without getting close enough for a move.

He finally started a charge with just 10 minutes to go but the safety car soon neutralized the action due to Rene Binder's stationary car on the main straight.

Vaxiviere had a good restart and spent the rest of the few minutes with the same lead on Deletraz he had earlier.

Deletraz settled for second with Tom Dillmann, who was up to third in the early stages after Orudzhev's car slowed down, taking third.

Alfonso Celis, who spent the most of the race holding off Binder, finished fourth followed by Arden's Aurelien Panis and Lotus' Roy Nissany.

Teo Martin duo Yu Kanamaru and Beitske Visser finished seventh and eighth respectively, the latter passing Vitor Baptista on the restart lap.

Baptista then also fell behind Marco Bonanomi, who completed his first race in the series this year.