Vergne completes Spa clean sweep

The Carlin driver started alongside title rival Oliver Webb and slotted into second behind the Fortec machine at the start.

Vergne was quicker than Webb, who defended aggressively on the run from Eau Rouge to Les Combes for the first three laps. On the third attempt Vergne did enough to get alongside, partly on the grass, and showed his displeasure with a hand gesture as he swept into the lead.

Carlin's James Calado was just behind the leading duo and, after being on the receiving end of more robust Webb defending, he made it into second on lap five.

Calado chipped away at Vergne's gap, but the Frenchman always looked in control and took the flag almost four seconds clear.

After fighting his way through a fantastic midfield scrap, Raikkonen Robertson's Carlos Huertas caught Webb. He prodded and probed for several laps before getting alongside on the run to Les Combes with three laps to go.

Again Webb moved across, Huertas held his ground, contact was made and Webb's Fortec machine wiped itself out against the barriers.

As Huertas toured back to the pits, ART's Alexander Sims came through to finish third. He had started 16th but much improved form allowed him to come through the pack, and he just held off Hitech's Gabriel Dias and Raikkonen Robertson's Felipe Nasr to complete the podium.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Car     Time/Gap
 1.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Carlin               D/V   39m05.769s
 2.  James Calado          Carlin               D/V     + 3.779s
 3.  Alexander Sims        ART                  D/M    + 21.975s
 4.  Gabriel Dias          Hitech               D/V    + 23.563s
 5.  Felipe Nasr           Raikkonen Robertson  D/M    + 23.725s
 6.  Daniel Juncadella     Prema                D/M    + 24.330s
 7.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin               D/V    + 25.090s
 8.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin               D/V    + 27.220s
 9.  Adriano Buzaid        Carlin               D/V    + 27.305s
10.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec               D/M    + 28.599s
11.  Jim Pla               ART                  D/M    + 32.695s
12.  Hywel Lloyd           CF/Manor             D/M    + 34.041s
13.  Jay Bridger           Litespeed            D/M    + 40.874s
14.  Nicolas Marroc        Prema                D/M    + 45.021s
15.  William Buller        Hitech               D/V    + 47.231s
16.  Nathanael Berthon     ART                  D/M    + 48.318s
17.  Carlos Munoz          Mucke                D/M    + 49.702s
18.  Maxim Snegirev        Fortec               D/M  + 1m16.466s
19.  James Cole            T-Sport              D/H  + 1m29.491s
20.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport              D/H  + 1m45.038s
21.  Alex Brundle          T-Sport              D/V      + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Carlos Huertas        Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  15 laps
     Oliver Webb           Fortec               D/M  14 laps
     Lucas Foresti         Carlin               D/V  4 laps
     Daisuke Nakajima      Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  4 laps
     Adderly Fong          Sino Vision          D/M  2 laps