VRD Racing's Hugo Schwarze steered clear of chaos in the final GB3 Championship race at Zandvoort, passing Elite Motorsport's Will Macintyre early on and then surviving two safety car restarts to claim his first single-seater victory.
In his second GB3 campaign, the German driver started fourth on the top-12 reverse grid, but moved past Hitech TGR's Keanu Al Azhari and JHR's pole sitter Kai Daryanani on the first lap to run second behind front row starter Macintyre.
But Schwarze found his way past and into the lead early on the second lap, and immediately pulled out a small margin of over a second.
His attempt to streak clear was halted though when Elite's Flynn Jackes became stranded in the gravel at turn one, bringing out the first safety car.
The race resumed at the end of lap five, but almost immediately it was neutralised again. Rodin's Gianmarco Pradel attempted a move on Daryanani at turn three, but made the slightest of contacts, spinning around the Indian driver and sending both to the top of the banking where Hitech's Nikita Johnson just avoided joining the melee, but Argenti with Prema's Yuanpu Cui wasn't as lucky, and slid into the stranded cars. With three cars parked at the top of the banking against the barriers, the second safety car was much longer while the Tatuus MSV GB3-025 cars were cleared.
There was time for just two more racing laps when the safety car pitted, and Schwarze made another good restart to again move clear of Macintyre. The British driver, with four wins to his name already in GB3, was able to keep the German in his sights, but Schwarze had done enough to clinch victory by 0.343 seconds.
Al Azhari took third, making amends for his Silverstone penalty and claim a GB3 podium at the second event of asking, finishing just ahead of charging teammate Deagen Fairclough, who again demonstrated his mastery of the reverse grid contest to storm from 11th on the grid to fourth.
JHR's Noah Lisle was fifth, ahead of Johnson who rose from eighth to sixth despite his near miss at turn three. Race one winner and championship leader Patrick Heuzenroeder took seventh from 10th on the grid, ahead of Argenti with Prema's Reza Seewooruthun.
Rodin's race two winner Alex Ninovic and Xcel Motorsport's Jack Sherwood completed the top-10, the latter climbing up from 19th on the grid.
The results of the race remain provisional while the incidents are investigated. The GB3 field returns to action at Spa-Francorchamps in two weeks time.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Zandvoort race three provisional result:
1. Hugo Schwarze, VRD Racing, 12 laps
2. Will Macintyre, Elite Motorsport, +0.343s
3. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, +1.051s
4. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +3.184s
5. Noah Lisle, JHR Developments, +4.383s
6. Nikita Johnson, Hitech TGR, +4.445s
7. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +4.915s
8. Reza Seewooruthun, Argenti with Prema, +5.432s
9. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, +5.747s
10. Jack Sherwood, Xcel Motorsport, +7.741s
11. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +8.121s
12. Lucas Fluxa, Argenti with Prema, +8.341s
13. Bianca Bustamante, Elite Motorsport, +10.157s
14. Divy Nandan, JHR Developments, +10.747s
DNF. Stefan Bostandjiev, Fortec Motorsports, 11 laps
DNF. Kai Daryanani, JHR Developments, 5 laps
DNF. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, 5 laps
DNF. Yuanpu Cui, Argenti with Prema, 5 laps
DNF. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, 2 laps