Leonardo Pulcini romped to his maiden GP3 victory in commanding fashion in Saturday's feature race around the Sochi Autodrom.
The Italian driver led the race from pole position, after Nikita Mazepin's fastest time was deleted for exceeding track limits, and as the lights went out he moved across the front of Callum Ilott's ART in order to protect his position and led into Turn 2 ahead of the field.
As the race wore on Pulcini was able to extend his lead over the field and led comfortably, utilising the speed from his Campos to full effect.
Mazepin started the race from eighth place after his pole- osition time was deleted, however, he was able to storm through the field to come through and beat ART team-mate and championship rival Anthoine Hubert to second place after battling hard with the Frenchman in the latter stages of the race.
There was a question mark over the Russian driver in the race after drastically cutting the corner on lap six while trying to pass Callum Ilott, but the stewards decided to take no further action over the incident.
Hubert had to settle for the final spot on the podium after losing out to Mazepin, he will still maintain a 26-point lead over the Russian going into Sunday's sprint race.
Richard Verschoor secured his best result since joining the GP3 series with fourth place for MP Motorsport; the Dutch driver was able to maintain his speed and tyres throughout the race and battled Hubert for the final podium spot on the last lap.
David Beckmann continued to show his impressive form in the Trident after scything his way through the pack after he qualified all the down in 15th place, the German driver was able to pass his rivals at will and get his car across the line in fifth place.
Simo Laaksonen put in a solid performance in the second Campos to finish in sixth place, ahead of the ART of Jake Hughes in seventh.
Arden's Joey Mawson will assume the reverse grid pole position for Sunday's sprint race after clinching eighth place from the Jenzer of Juan Manuel Correa; the pair fought hard in the final laps with the Australian driver tactically utilising the last of his allotted DRS allowances on the final lap to get past the American.
Tatiana Calderon collected the final point after she crossed the line in 10th place, the Colombian driver was able to get past Ilott on the final lap as the British driver continued to fall down the order.
Sunday's sprint race will get underway at 10am local time.
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