Mitch Evans has taken a surprise victory in an utterly frenetic feature race in Austria, coming home ahead of Campos Racing team-mate Sean Gelael.
The 40-lap race featured a whole host of obstacles, including a handful of safety car periods and even a red flag delay for a significant amount of time.
Early race leader Antonio Giovinazzi failed to even finish the race after stalling in the pits on two occasions in quick succession once the race was resumed under safety car conditions after the red flag delay.
During the opening few laps Giovinazzi fought for the lead along with Prema Racing team-mate Pierre Gasly, however when heavy rain hit Turns 2 and 3 on Lap 18 the Frenchman spun into the gravel and into retirement after beaching his car.
The first rainstorm resulted in treacherous conditions in the first sector of the track, however many drivers remained on the dry tyre compound with the remainder of the track remaining relatively dry.
However the rain returned with vengeance several laps later, dousing more of the track and creating even trickier conditions.
With Giovinazzi now fighting for the lead with Raffaele Marciello, Marvin Kirchhofer spun at Turn 2 and stalled.
This left the German’s car stuck in the middle of the track, with the leading drivers all miraculously managing to avoid making contact with the Carlin racer.
This caused the second safety car period of the race, and saw many drivers including the leaders pit for their mandatory stop.
However, upon exiting the pits Artem Markelov accelerated too hard and speared straight into the barrier and came to a halt in the middle of the pit exit.
This led to a lengthy red flag delay, with all manner of freneticism occurring up and down the field with Philo Paz Armand overtaking a handful of cars and even the safety car as the field returned to the pits.
Eventually the race was resumed under the safety car, before Evans assumed control at the front and completed a succession of fastest laps to take a memorable victory.
Marciello managed to end the race in third, despite leading for several laps before the red flag delay.
Luca Ghiotto came home fourth after a strong race from the Italian, finishing ahead of late chargers Jimmy Eriksson and Oliver Rowland.
Championship contender Norman Nato came home seventh for Racing Engineering, ahead of initial pole man Sergey Sirotkin.
Meanwhile Gustav Malja and Jordan King rounded out the top ten.
Prior to the rain intervention and the subsequent spills and thrills, Sergio Canamasas became the first retirement after struggling to brake in time and slamming into the rear of Malja and Nabil Jeffri.
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