Perez takes maiden win in Bahrain

The British Formula 3 graduate led from lights to flag, after starting on pole position thanks to his eighth place yesterday.

Perez's life was made slightly easier before the start when his front row partner Giedo van der Garde failed to get away for the formation lap. The iSport driver was pushed into the pitlane and could only recover to 14th.

Campos driver Perez then edged away from Durango's Davide Valsecchi, establishing a two-second lead by the middle of the race as up to eight drivers battled in his wake.

Valsecchi closed the gap towards the end, but Perez had enough in hand to fend him off and clinch victory.

Jerome D'Ambrosio completed the podium after an outstanding drive for DAMS.

He had dropped to eighth on the first lap, but charged past Earl Bamber (Meritus) and his championship-leading teammate Kamui Kobayashi early on.

The DAMS duo then pressured fifth-placed Roldan Rodriguez (Piquet), both slipping past in quick succession, but while that would be as far as Kobayashi progressed, D'Ambrosio continued to advance through the field.

He pounced on a late error from Javier Villa (Super Nova) to take fourth, and then closed on ART's Nico Hulkenberg before snatching third from the F3 Euro Series champion on the last lap.

Villa and Kobayashi completed the top six, ahead of Bamber and yesterday's third place finisher Edoardo Mortara (Arden).

Classified:

Pos  Driver            Team                             Time
 1.  Sergio Perez      Barwa International Campos Team  40:14.642
 2.  Davide Valsecchi  Durango                          +   0.749
 3.  J.D'Ambrosio      DAMS                             +   8.081
 4.  Nico Hulkenberg   ART Grand Prix                   +   8.675
 5.  Javier Villa      Super Nova Racing                +  10.533
 6.  Kamui Kobayashi   DAMS                             +  11.116
 7.  Earl Bamber       My Qi-Meritus.Mahara             +  15.441
 8.  Edoardo Mortara   Arden International Motorsport   +  16.230
 9.  Luiz Razia        Arden International Motorsport   +  17.213
10.  Marco Bonanomi    My Qi-Meritus.Mahara             +  17.821
11.  Sakon Yamamoto    ART Grand Prix                   +  18.323
12.  Vitaly Petrov     Barwa International Campos Team  +  25.466
13.  Yelmer Buurman    Ocean Racing Technology          +  29.283
14.  G.van der Garde   GFH Team iSport                  +  36.850
15.  F.Provenzano      Trident Racing                   +  41.242
16.  Giacomo Ricci     DPR                              +  44.677
17.  F.Crestani        Ocean Racing Technology          +  45.389
18.  Michael Herck     DPR                              +  50.464
19.  Adrian Valles     Trident Racing                   +  55.913
20.  M.D.Stelle        Durango                          +1:04.298
21.  Kevin Chen        Fisichella Motor Sport Int       +1:07.235
22.  Diego Nunes       Piquet GP                        +1:09.072
23.  Roldan Rodriguez  Piquet GP                        +   1 Lap

Not classified:

     Driver            Team                            Laps
     Rodolfo Gonzalez  Fisichella Motor Sport Int       14
     Hamad Al Fardan   GFH Team iSport                  12
     James Jakes       Super Nova Racing                 8