Held in damp conditions, the race was won by Hamad Al Fardan after Andy Knight was disqualified after failing to head mechanical black flag warnings over a faulty rain light.[1] In doing so, Al Fardan became the first international driver to win the New Zealand Grand Prix since Dean Hall in 1989.
Race report
Owing to the damp conditions, the standing start was scrapped in lieu of a single-file rolling start. Jay Howard led the field away from Chris van der Drift and Ben Harford. It was a tricky start for Harford, who spun twice in the opening stages, including one that left him stranded across the track at the final corner. Brendon Hartley took to the runoff in an evasive maneuver, but an unsighted Al Fardan failed to react in time and made like light contact with Harford, damaging the Bahraini's front wing.
The conditions continued to catch out drivers throughout the field, including race leader Howard, who speared off into the gravel trap at turn one. Second place driver, van der Drift, run wide just meters later and made contact with the wall. This ended both drivers' race and brought out the safety car. When the race resumed, Daniel Gaunt led from teammate Dale Williams. Despite suffering from a skewed front wing angle, Al Fardan began to set the pace and passed Hartley promptly for fourth place. Knight passed Gaunt for the lead around the outside of turn one, however he would be shown a mechanical black flag for a faulty rain light and was obligated to retreat to the pitlane.
Knight continued to ignore the black flags right until the finish. As a result, Knight was disqualified from the race and Al Fardan was declared the winner of the Grand Prix. Gaunt finished second and Hartley rounded out the podium.
