Guerrieri scores Olympiacos' first win

Guerrieri - who also won at Zolder driving for Al Ain - leapt into the lead from the outset, as poleman Pizzonia appeared to miss the lights at the rolling start and was rammed from behind by Valles. Guerrieri extended a 1.7s lead before his mandatory pitstop, but there his lead was negated as both Valles and Pizzonia moved ahead of him with faster stops.

But the 24-year-old, who has driven for three clubs this season, was not to be denied. After all the leaders struggled to pass late-stopping backmarker Maria de Villota, Guerrieri attacked the delayed Pizzonia around the outside at Turn 6 on lap 20. The Brazilian held him off there, but Guerrieri lunged again at the following corner and pulled off a brilliant pass.

Guerrieri then chased down leader Valles, and took full advantage when the Liverpool car slid onto the kerbs at Turn 2, the legacy of a late-race brake problem, allowing Guerreri to dive down the inside into Turn 3. He reeled off the remaining four laps to score a 2.1s victory.

"The race was excellent," said Guerrieri. "The pitstop wasn't great but the car was great. In the second stint I tried not to kill the tyres early on, and saved my push-to-pass for the late stages too. The others were really struggling for rear grip by then, but my car was nicely balanced."

Pizzonia finished third, but was lucky not to be penalised after he left the pits with his rear jack still attached. Fortunately, it quickly fell off and there was no sanction.

Yelmer Buurman was fourth for Anderlecht, ahead of John Martin (Rangers) and Giorgio Pantano (AC Milan). Tottenham's Craig Dolby could only manage eighth, but that moved him into second in the championship as FC Basel's car refused to engage first gear and Max Wissel was a non-starter.

Of the newcomers, Alvaro Parente crashed out of 10th for Porto when he tripped over de Villota after she ran wide at Turn 2, firing him into the barriers as she rejoined into his path.

Ex-Formula 1 racer Sebastien Bourdais finished 11th for Sevilla on his series debut, losing time early on but setting some competitive lap times as the race wore on.

Franck Perera took seventh on his return for Roma.

Pos  Driver              Team                  Time/Gap
 1.  Esteban Guerrieri   Olympiacos          45m47.271s
 2.  Adrian Valles       Liverpool           +   2.166s
 3.  Antonio Pizzonia    Corinthians         +   3.010s
 4.  Yelmer Buurman      Anderlecht          +  13.980s
 5.  John Martin         Rangers             +  18.200s
 6.  Giorgio Pantano     AC Milan            +  28.787s
 7.  Franck Perera       AS Roma             +  31.158s
 8.  Craig Dolby         Tottenham Hotspur   +  35.764s
 9.  Pedro Petiz         Sporting            +1m00.995s
10.  Carlo van Dam       PSV Eindhoven       +1m21.104s
11.  Sebastien Bourdais  Sevilla FC          +1m22.390s
12.  Nelson Panciatici   Olympique Lyonnais  +2m25.470s
13.  Enrique Bernoldi    Flamengo            +    1 lap
14.  Maria de Villota    Atletico Madrid     +    1 lap

Retirements:

     Kasper Andersen     FC Midtylland       28 laps
     Alvaro Parente      FC Porto            11 laps
     Ho-Pin Tung         Galatasaray         8 laps
     Max Wissel          FC Basel            0 laps