Grosjean storms to second Dubai win

Starting eighth after his feature race success yesterday, Grosjean pulled off some excellent passing moves, as well as enjoying a fair slice of good fortune, to work his way to the front.

Fairuz Fauzy (Super Nova) led away initially, but was passed by Adrian Valles (FMS) - from fifth on the grid - into the first corner. But Valles was forced to retire just a couple of corners later, handing the lead back to Fauzy.

He led from the fast-starting Meritus duo Luca Filippi and Hiroki Yoshimoto. Karun Chandhok (iSport) dropped to seventh after a clutch problem at the start, but rallied back to fourth by the end of the opening lap.

Grosjean was fifth, as the safety car was called upon to retrieve some of the stranded cars from opening lap clashes. One victim was Bruno Senna (iSport), who was pushed wide at Turn 1 by Andy Soucek (DPR) and then collided with Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS) at Turn 10.

While the safety car was on track, Filippi's car ran out of gears and he was forced to retire from second.

At the restart, Grosjean slipped ahead of Chandhok at Turn 1, while Soucek did likewise to Alberto Valerio (Durango) at Turn 10.

Grosjean didn't find Yoshimoto an easy prospect to pass, but he was helped massively when backmarker Harald Schlegelmilch (Trident) rejoined from the pits right in front of the Japanese and pushed him wide, gifting second place to Grosjean.

The Frenchman quickly caught Fauzy, who was struggling with oversteer, and took full advantage when the Malaysian slid wide in the 'bowl corner' of Turn 14, and raced away to win by 3.7 seconds.

Chandhok grabbed third with a fantastic around-the-outside pass on Yoshimoto at Turn 10, repeating the move Senna had made in yesterday's race.

Senna was on the verge of getting back into the points today when he picked up a puncture battling with Davide Valsecchi (Durango) and was forced to pit.

Yoshimoto held on to fourth, ahead of Durango duo Valerio and Davide Valsecchi.

Soucek spun out of sixth at the final corner, and just missed out on the points in seventh.

Classified:

Pos  Driver         Team                        Time
 1.  Grosjean       ART Grand Prix              43:32.991
 2.  Fauzy          Super Nova Racing            +  3.778
 3.  Chandhok       iSport International         +  5.974
 4.  Yoshimoto      Qi-Meritus Mahara            + 12.147
 5.  Valerio        Durango                      + 12.854
 6.  Valsecchi      Durango                      + 18.367
 7.  Soucek         DPR                          + 19.360
 8.  D'Ambrosio     DAMS                         + 25.052
 9.  Petrov         Barwa International Campos   + 25.687
10.  Tung           Trident Racing               + 26.339
11.  Bakkerud       Super Nova Racing            + 28.754
12.  Jelley         ART Grand Prix               + 34.481
13.  Bonanomi       Piquet Sports                + 35.562
14.  Pavlovic       BCN Competicion              + 36.624
15.  Khan           Trust Team Arden             + 43.462
16.  Tahinci        BCN Competicion              + 48.157
17.  Herck          Fisichella Motor Sport       + 48.750
18.  Schlegelmilch  Trident Racing               +  1 lap
19.  Senna          iSport International         +  1 lap

Not classified:

     Driver         Team                         Laps
     Ebrahim        DPR                          19
     Filippi        Qi-Meritus Mahara             4
     Valles         Fisichella Motor Sport        0
     KobayashI      DAMS                          0
     Puglisi        Piquet Sports                 0
     Buemi          Trust Team Arden              0
     Nunes          Barwa International Campos    0

Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:22.453 on lap 23