Parente romps to win on debut

The Renault World Series champion led from start to finish, taking control after poleman Pastor Maldonado stalled at the start. Parente made his mandatory pitstop when the safety car appeared on lap two, and rejoined at the head of the field.

Bruno Senna took second from Andi Zuber during the frantic early pitstops, with both of them almost colliding with cars that were still coming in as they departed. There was initial confusion when the safety car appeared, as it failed to pick up the leaders. They then pitted, meaning it took even longer for them to catch up with it again.

At the restart on lap seven, Senna timed his run to perfection to get a tow from Parente going into Turn 1. The Portuguese defended his lead, however, and that's as close as Senna got to pasing him.

That didn't mean the race at the front was boring: Senna hounded Parente for the remaining 31 laps. Parenta just never gave him the opportunity to pass and he clung on by half a second despite Senna's best efforts.

Zuber finished third, less than a second behind Senna, while Giorgio Pantano took fourth. Romain Grosjean stormed through the field to finish fifth from 11th on the grid. Vitaly Petrov finished sixth, losing his place cheaply to Grosjean after he ran through the gravel.

Sebastien Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi rounded out the point scorers, both taking advantage as Adrian Valles, who ran as high as fifth early on, slipped back through the order when he rooted his tyres. Valles pitted for more rubber and set the fastest lap on the final tour - but it won't count for a point as he had to finish in the top 10 for it to count.

Karun Chandhok finished just out of the points in ninth, which was harsh as he'd been running fourth when he was forced to stack behind teammate Senna in the pits.

Maldonado was forced to start from the pitlane after his stall, and the safety car helped him gain ground. He stormed his way through the pack, passing car after car, until he used too much of his tyres, and having fought up to 10th, he then slipped back down the order to finish 12th.

The safety car was required for a multiple pile-up at Turn 1, which started when Christian Bakkerud hit Ben Halney into a spin, and heavy contact behind sent Roldan Rodriguez flying over Ho-Pin Tung. Mike Conway was also an early retirement on the start/finish straight, and his car had to be retrieved too.

Pos Driver              Team                       Gap  
 1. Alvaro Parente      Super Nova         1:01:09.902
 2. Bruno Senna         iSport                  +0.579
 3. Andi Zuber          Piquet Sports           +1.511
 4. Giorgio Pantano     Racing Engineering      +3.768
 5. Romain Grosjean     ART                     +8.155
 6. Vitaly Petrov       Campos                 +19.729
 7. Sebastien Buemi     Arden                  +27.326
 8. Kamui Kobayashi     DAMS                   +27.945
 9. Karun Chandhok      iSport                 +30.394
10. Davide Valsecchi    Durango                +34.573
11. Luca Filippi        ART                    +34.816
12. Pastor Maldonado    Piquet Sports          +38.600
13. Alberto Valerio     Durango                +42.489
14. Javier Villa        Racing Engineering     +43.200
15. Diego Nunes         DPR                  +1:09.867
16. Giacomo Ricci       DPR                  +1:10.152
17. Paolo Nocera        BCN                  +1:08.749
18. Adrian Valles       FMS                  +1:08.778

Not classified

    Driver              Team                      Laps   
    Christian Bakkerud  Super Nova             20 laps
    Yelmer Buurman      Arden                  18 laps
    Ben Hanley          Campos                 15 laps
    Jerome D'Ambrosio   DAMS                   15 laps
    Roldan Rodriguez    FMS                     4 laps
    Ho-Pin Tung         Trident                  1 lap
    Mike Conway         Trident                 0 laps
    Milos Pavlovic      BCN                     0 laps
    
    
Fastest lap, Valles 1:30.357 on lap 38