Carlin won the GP3 teams’ championship in impressive fashion this afternoon in the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Newly crowned Drivers’ Champion Alex Lynn helped the team to its first GP3 team title after taking third in his final GP3 race and was followed closely home by team mate Emil Bernstorff in fourth place. Bernstorff’s strong showing was enough to seal fourth in the drivers’ standings for the GP3 rookie. Luis Sa Silva endured another unlucky race after a tough day yesterday, serving a drive through penalty for contact with another driver.

After clinching the drivers’ title with Alex Lynn yesterday, attention today turned to clinching Carlin’s first teams’ GP3 title – with the gap to second placed team ART just five points. With three ART cars starting in the top seven and Lynn starting fourth with Bernstorff fifth, the title was far from decided.

The drama started before the race even got underway, when Marcus Kirchhofer stalled on the grid from seventh place. Despite the ART drivers’ misfortune there was still plenty to play for as the lights went out.  Lynn and Bernstorff made lightning starts, passing ART’s Fontana by turn one. As Fontana dropped back he also suffered a broken front wing, forcing him into the pits.

Sa Silva was in the thick of the racing action having started 22nd and was up to 17th, but when the safety car was deployed at the end of lap two, the racing action was temporarily halted. At the restart Lynn and Bernstorff maintained position while Sa Silva moved up one position to 16th.

Both Lynn and Bernstorff held position in a relatively uneventful race for them at the front of the field, working hard to maintain the potential points advantage over ART. Sa Silva’s race hit issues when he was handed a drive through penalty for the earlier collision with Ryan Cullen, putting him to the back for the field.

At the front, Lynn and Bernstorff continued line astern, crossing the line to seal the team’s title with points to spare as Bernstorff also claimed fourth in the drivers’ standings.

Reflecting on his race, GP3 champion Lynn said, “Today was about taking the teams’ title for Carlin. We won the drivers’ title on Friday which was amazing, but we really wanted to concentrate on getting the grand slam this weekend as the team really deserved it. They’ve been an amazing team all year and I’m really happy to have got the job done for them today. To be on the podium having won the drivers’ and teams’ titles feels really special and a great way to end my time in the GP3 Series.”

Team mate Bernstorff added, “It’s great to be have been able to secure the teams’ title and for me fourth place is the best we could have hoped for in this race so I’m really happy with the result. It’s been a great season so thanks to the team for that. We discussed before what I needed to do to take fourth in the standings, I didn’t ask on the radio about it, I just drove my own race which was enough to take fourth. It was a good end to the season.”

A delighted Trevor Carlin said, “This is the result of a lot of hard work from team which began over the winter last year. We’ve had a fantastic combination of people, together with the drivers Alex, Emil and Luis and it’s been an absolute pleasure to work with them this season. Alex is a deserving champion having led the standings from start to finish while the teams’ title is a fitting tribute to everyone that has put in such hard work this year. We aim to come back to defend both in 2015.”