Evans claims GP3 world title

| Motorsport News | Monday September 10 2012 5:33

Kiwi Mitch Evans has arrived as the next generation of Kiwi motorsport, claiming the GP3 world title in the final race in Italy.

Leading the series, Evans would only relinquish the title if he finished worse than eighth and German Daniel Abt won the race.

A puncture late in the race saw the Kiwi slip back to 20th, while Abt only relinquished the lead on the penultimate lap.

Evans says he'd practically lost hope.

"I was obviously expecting that I wasn't going to win because he was leading (and looked) comfortable out there and it was a huge relief really. It wasn't the way I wanted to win it but at the end of the day we came out with the maximum points."

Evans has the option of accepting around $400,000 New Zealand if he graduates to GP2 next season.

He says even that may not be enough to make ends meet if he decides to make the step up.

"Hopefully get some backing to do GP through next year - that would be the ultimate goal but a step up in budget is huge so we've got to sit down over summer and hopefully get things together and hopefully get a bit more support."

Evans says he's got a lot of thinking to do about his future.

"It's obviously really going to help, it's a small percentage of the budget. It's obviously a lot of money but GP is very expensive so it's going to help - anything we can get is going to help."

Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton has won the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at Monza.

It's been a disastrous day for Red Bull with defending world champion Sebastien Vettel and teammate Mark Webber failing to finish.

Photo: Getty Images

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Mitch Evans | GP3 |