Sato wins at Croft

Leading from the off, Sato completed the 25-lap race eight seconds in front of second-placed man, Tomas Scheckter, to land the Japanese driver his second win of the season.

Dane Nicolas Kiesa finished third with Britain's Ben Collins in fourth.

"My start wasn't so good," said Sato after the race, "but my car was really good. It was so comfortable that I was very confident."

Championship leader Antonio Pizzonia had a miserable race The Brazilian was tipped into a spin on the first lap at the exit of the chicane by Gianmaria Bruni. Then a tangle at the hairpin as he battled back into contention finally wrecked Pizzonia's race on lap 19. However he still has a 30-point lead in the championship and will be looking to get his title hopes back on track at Silverstone in a month's time.

Top 10 results

T Sato 31m13.030s
T Scheckter +8.084s
N Kiesa +11.605s
B Collins +14.739s
M Ambrose +24.831s
A Kirkaldy +29.491s
M Pavlovic +30.657s
G Paffett +34.797s
M Bentwood +37.206s
N Karthikeyan +37.825s