Rodin Motorsport's Alex Ninovic claimed victory in the first GB3 race of the weekend at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, surviving race long pressure from countryman Patrick Heuzenroeder to take his ninth win of the season.
Pole-sitter Ninovic led from start to finish in a restarted contest, but Heuzenroeder kept him to within half a second for the majority of the race, only for Ninovic to streak clear in the final two laps to win by 1.613 seconds.
At the original start, Ninovic enjoyed a decent getaway to lead at turn one, while Heuzenroeder alongside on the front row challenged into the chicane, but had to take to the run off area.
But the race was soon stopped, with a multi-car tangle on the run to the chicane eliminating JHR's Kai Daryanani and Elite's debutant Isaac Phelps, while at Curva Grande, a three-car incident wiped out Rodrigo Gonzalez and Bart Harrison.
With four cars stranded, the race was restarted over 10 laps, with the cars lining up in the original grid order.
Ninovic again led the pack away at the start, while Heuzenroeder slotted into second, with Hitech's Deagen Fairclough holding third. Despite the tow, Ninovic's lead at the end of the first lap was over half a second, but the race was neutralised under the safety car after Bianca Bustamante was turned around at the first chicane, though she was eventually able to get back into the race.
After a short interruption, Ninovic backed the pack up on the approach to Parabolica as he looked to control the restart, and held his lead into the Variante del Rettifilo.
From there it was a cagey event, as Ninovic tried to shake off Heuzenroeder, but was not able to extend the gap as he punched a hole in the air for the DRS-equipped rivals behind.
Heuzenroder was just a couple of tenths behind starting the eighth lap, but Ninovic rebuffed the challenges and then pulled the gap out to nine tenths on the penultimate lap, and extending it by another seven tenths on the final tour.
As Heuzenroeder strengthened his position in the chase for the runners-up spot in the standings, Ninovic's teammate Gianmarco Pradel kept his name in the fight as he passed Fairclough for third around the outside of the first part of the Ascari chicane on the penultimate lap to complete an all-Australian podium.
Fairclough therefore had to settle for fourth ahead of impressive Hillspeed debutants Newman Chi and Maxim Rehm, who finished fifth and sixth on their GB3 debuts.
Reza Seewooruthun was seventh for Argenti with Prema, ahead of the third Hillspeed of Lucas Fluxa, with Rodin's Abbi Pulling and JHR's Noah Lisle completing the top-10, with Lisle climbing from 17th on the grid.
The second race of the weekend at Monza is due to commence at 09.45 local time on Sunday morning.
GB3 Championship, partnered by the BRDC, Autodromo Nazionale Monza, provisional race one result:
1. Alex Ninovic, Rodin Motorsport, 10 laps
2. Patrick Heuzenroeder, Xcel Motorsport, +1.613s
3. Gianmarco Pradel, Rodin Motorsport, +3.240s
4. Deagen Fairclough, Hitech TGR, +3.734s
5. Newman Chi, Hillspeed, +4.394s
6. Maxim Rehm, Hillspeed, +5.036s
7. Reza Seewooruthun, Argenti with Prema, +5.441s
8. Lucas Fluxa, Hillspeed, +5.737s
9. Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport, +6.329s
10. Noah Lisle, JHR Developments, +6.439s
11. Jack Sherwood, Xcel Motorsport, +6.634s
12. Keanu Al Azhari, Hitech TGR, +8.807s
13. Kabir Anurag, Xcel Motorsport, +9.145s
14. Patricio Gonzalez, VRD Racing, +13.412s
15. August Raber, Argenti with Prema, +17.405s
16. Flynn Jackes, Elite Motorsport, +17.565s
17. Bianca Bustamante, Elite Motorsport, +52.729s
18. Enzo Tarnvanichkul, VRD Racing, +2 laps
DNF. Isaac Phelps, Elite Motorsport, 0 laps
DNF. Kai Daryanani, JHR Developments, 0 laps
DNF. Rodrigo Gonzalez, VRD Racing, 0 laps
DNF. Bart Harrison, JHR Developments, 0 laps