Johnny Cecotto grabs maiden GP2 win in Monaco

Addax driver Cecotto maintained his pole position at the start, but could never get more than two seconds ahead of Ericsson (iSport), who got particularly close around the pitstops and into the closing laps.

Although Ericsson took a few looks at passing as they diced through the traffic, Cecotto had things under control and held on to claim victory by half a second.

Giedo van der Garde had a lonely run to third for Caterham. The Dutchman looked like he would have to start at the back as he struggled to get off the dummy grid, but he managed to pull away before the final car passed so could reclaim his position.

Championship leader Davide Valsecchi (DAMS) left his pitstop later than most and was able to come through to fourth place from seventh on the grid.

Front row starter Max Chilton was passed by Ericsson and van der Garde into the first corner, then lost out to Valsecchi in the pits, but the Carlin driver was able to get away from iSport's Jolyon Palmer and secure fifth, as Palmer took his best GP2 result yet in sixth.

An early pitstop and quick laps thereafter allowed Lotus' James Calado to turn 13th on the grid into a seventh-place finish. Calado's team-mate Esteban Gutierrez looked set to claim reverse-grid pole in eighth until he damaged his car on the chicane barriers after launching over the kerbs amid confusion in traffic. Arden's title contender Luiz Razia also had to pit for repairs following the incident.

Trident's Stephane Richelmi was elevated to eighth following the incident so will start from pole on Saturday.

Nathanael Berthon (Racing Engineering) and Coloni driver Stefano Coletti - who left his mandatory pitstop until four laps from the finish but then lost a few seconds due to being released too soon - completed the top 10.

Results - 42 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team                   Time/Gap
 1.  Johnny Cecotto       Addax                59m42.521s
 2.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport                 + 0.564s
 3.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham               + 5.040s
 4.  Davide Valsecchi     DAMS                  + 16.347s
 5.  Max Chilton          Carlin                + 17.378s
 6.  Jolyon Palmer        iSport                + 21.883s
 7.  James Calado         Lotus                 + 25.685s
 8.  Stephane Richelmi    Trident               + 42.275s
 9.  Nathanael Berthon    Racing Engineering    + 45.319s
10.  Stefano Coletti      Coloni                + 47.099s
11.  Tom Dillmann         Rapax                 + 51.285s
12.  Simon Trummer        Arden               + 1m04.054s
13.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Caterham            + 1m21.395s
14.  Rio Haryanto         Carlin              + 1m23.537s
15.  Luiz Razia           Arden               + 1m23.639s
16.  Victor Guerin        Ocean                   + 1 lap
17.  Felipe Nasr          DAMS                    + 1 lap
18.  Fabio Leimer         Racing Engineering      + 1 lap
19.  Fabrizio Crestani    Lazarus                 + 1 lap
20.  Ricardo Teixeira     Rapax                   + 1 lap
21.  Julian Leal          Trident                + 2 laps
22.  Giancarlo Serenelli  Lazarus                + 2 laps

Retirements:

     Esteban Gutierrez    Lotus                   37 laps
     Nigel Melker         Ocean                   32 laps
     Fabio Onidi          Coloni                  26 laps
     Josef Kral           Addax                    0 laps