Albuquerque wins first race

The Portuguese Epsilon Euskadi driver finished 0.5 seconds ahead of Fairuz Fauzy, who could celebrate a season best result as well as his recent fatherhood.

Ben Hanley finished on the Cram car's tail in third, having stormed his way up from twelfth on the grid. Hanley's progress through the field was aided by setting a string of fastest laps, as well as keeping a cool head on a manic opening lap which claimed numerous victims.

Pole-sitter Guillaume Moreau's tactic of an early pit stop failed to pay off. The KTR driver was penalised 20 seconds post-race for coming in when the pit window was closed.

In any case, the Frenchman was unable to match Albuquerque for pace and had his afternoon's work further compromised after being held up behind Julien Jousse for a lengthy period. Moreau managed fourth on the road after an audacious pass on Sebastian Vettel around the outside of turn 11 on the last lap, salvaging some pride if little else.

Jousse wound up fifth ahead of Giedo van der Garde. The Dutchman had been on course for a podium, before being frustrated by a painfully long pit stop owing to a sticking left front wheel.

"My race only became difficult at the end, when my tyres were causing a lot of oversteer," said Albuquerque. "I had a lot to lose, but fortunately Fairuz and Ben were busy fighting each other."

Albuquerque showed his intent from the off, passing front row starter Alvaro Barba away from the lights and edging alongside Moreau under braking for the first corner. Barba arrived a shade too hot into Turn 1, running wide and giving the nearby Fauzy a scare. Van der Garde was the main benefactor, up into third from seventh on the grid.

In the midfield, Carlos Iaconelli was launched up over the back of Comtec's Michael Herck, resulting in heavy damage and retirement for both. Alessandro Ciompi was also involved, his Eurointernational machine written off as the left front wheel folded back into the tub. Ciompi will be a non-starter tomorrow, allowing Marco Bonanomi back into the race after not qualifying today.

More drama unfolded at Turn 2 as Bertrand Baguette was tapped into a spin by Miguel Molina. Both were able to continue, but Molina sustained damage to his front wing in the action. Barba was the final victim of the first lap, his day ending embedded backwards in a tyre wall.

The safety car was required until the end of lap five, with Moreau following it in, handing the lead to Albuquerque. Hanley's stop took place on lap ten, and in clean air was able to get into his stride, homing in on Fauzy.

Albuquerque was the last of the leaders to change tyres on lap 15, emerging with 0.8 seconds advantage over Fauzy, who in turn held a similar margin over Hanley. Five seconds further down the road, championship leader Vettel ran a lonely fourth.

There was a final appearance of the safety car after Baguette crashed out at Turn 11. Fauzy decided on a cautious approach to the restart, and Albuquerque rounded out the last three laps unchallenged, the only changes at the front being Moreau's spectacular efforts.

Classified:

Pos  Driver            Team                      Time
 1.  F.Albuquerque     Epsilon Euskadi      46:42.199
 2.  Fairuz Fauzy      Cram Competition       + 0.552
 3.  Benjamin Hanley   Prema Powerteam        + 1.335
 4.  Sebastian Vettel  Carlin Motorsport      + 4.120
 5.  Julien Jousse     Tech 1 Racing          + 5.147
 6.  G.van der Garde   Victory Engineering    + 6.096
 7.  Milos Pavlovic    Draco Racing           + 6.577
 8.  Alejandro Nunez   Comtec                 + 6.856
 9.  Michael Aleshin   Carlin Motorsport      + 7.527
10.  Charlie Kimball   Victory Engineering    + 7.962
11.  Clivio Piccione   RC Motorsport          + 8.405
12.  James Walker      Fortec Motorsport      + 9.266
13.  P.Di Sabatino     GD Racing             + 10.028
14.  Xavier Maassen    Prema Powerteam       + 18.259
15.  Pippa Mann        Cram Competition      + 19.510
16.  Salvador Duran    Interwetten.com       + 20.320
17.  Guillaume Moreau  KTR                   + 22.319
18.  Richard Philippe  Fortec Motorsport     + 27.576
19.  Ricardo Risatti   GD Racing             + 30.648
20.  Miguel Molina     Pons Racing           + 31.873
21.  Daniel Move       Interwetten.com       + 43.343

Not classified:

     Driver            Team                   Laps
     Jaap van Lagen    EuroInternational      21
     Davide Valsecchi  Epsilon Euskadi        18
     B.Baguette        KTR                    17
     Alvaro Parente    Tech 1 Racing          10
     Michael Herck     Comtec                 1
     Alvaro Barba      Draco Racing           0
     Carlos Iaconelli  Pons Racing            0
     A.Ciompi          EuroInternational      0