Barba takes maiden win at Donington

Barba held off the attentions of Tech 1's Julien Jousse by two tenths of a second, as a late race safety car period closed up the field before a re-start with five laps remaining.

KTR driver Bertrand Baguette finished third, as all three drivers made the step onto the podium for the time this season.

Pole-sitter Alvaro Parente had been well placed to take the win until running wide at Coppice on lap 15.

The Portuguese, who was working his way up the order after a mandatory pit-stop, took far too much kerb on the entry of the corner and consequently bounced through the gravel trap on the exit.

Parente recovered to finish fourth ahead of Yelmer Buurman, the Dutchman doing an impressive job as stand-in for the injured Richard Philippe at Fortec.

Parente led front-row starter Fairuz Fauzy cleanly into Redgate corner from the start, but as the 30-car field threaded its way down through the 160mph Craner Curves bedlam broke out in the mid-field.

Entering the braking point for the Old Hairpin Clivio Piccione, Charlie Kimball and Michel Herck found themselves running three abreast which quickly ended in disaster.

"Michael Herck, for some reason, lifted off in front of me," said Victory Engineering's Charlie Kimball. "I took evasive action as did Clivio Piccione, before Herck decided to try to take the racing line with two cars alongside him. We all just pin-balled into each other."

All three drivers retired in the incident, as the safety car was deployed for five laps.

Fauzy was unable to keep up with Parente on the re-start, immediately finding himself with a 1.3 second deficit. Julien Jousse in third came under intense pressure from Barba, as the pair ran nose-to-tail through the Melbourne Hairpin.

The Old Hairpin claimed another victim on lap seven as Prema driver Xavier Maasen crashed out, the car coming to rest speared into the tyre wall by Starkey's Bridge.

Fauzy was the first of the leaders to pit, coming in from second on lap nine. Jousse inherited the position and took up the pursuit of Parente, over five seconds up the road.

Barba in third and Baguette fourth, hounded Jousse closely. On the following tour Jousse pitted, with Barba following him in directly behind.

Jousse's stop was particularly swift and the Frenchman rejoined ahead of Fauzy, who by lap thirteen was suffering with graining rear tyres.

Parente made his mandatory tyre-change on lap 12 and rejoined ninth on the road. In clear air Barba put his foot down, setting a succession of fastest laps.

As a consequence of Parente's off-track escapade, Barba's speed was enough to earn him the lead when the pit-stops had shaken themselves out.

The fight for third came alive at the Melbourne Hairpin on lap 18 when Baguette dived down the inside of Fauzy.

The Malaysian recovered his position deftly on the exit, however, in a virtual replay of Maassen's shunt, Fairuz had sudden snap oversteer at the Old Hairpin next time around.

The black and gold Cram car hit virtually the same spot as Maassen had made in the tyre wall, and sprung back into the side of Xavier's parked car.

The safety car was called out for the second time in the afternoon, with Barba leading Jousse, Baguette, Parente, Buurman, and Michael Ammermueller, the order of the top six at the chequered flag.

"I am so happy I don't know what to say," said Barba. "I changed the front tyres in the pit-stop which made it really difficult at the end with over-steer and Julien came really close."

Ben Hanley's championship hopes hit a set-back after gearbox problems in qualifying relegated the Briton to 30th, and last, on the grid.

"We also had a problem with communication in the pits," said Ben, "I don't know if there was a problem with the radio but they weren't ready for me when I came in.

"After that we went forward in a big way, I must have overtaken ten cars which for World Series is good going."

James Walker was the last driver to pit, the Englishman's strategy helping him move into tenth at the flag having started 24th, and will thus start from pole tomorrow.

Pos  Driver             Team                Time
 1.  Alvaro Barba       Draco Racing        46:38.919
 2.  Julien Jousse      Tech 1 Racing         + 0.257
 3.  B.Baguette         KTR                   + 1.668
 4.  Alvaro Parente     Tech 1 Racing         + 2.277
 5.  Yelmer Buurman     Fortec Motorsport     + 4.754
 6.  M.Ammermuller      Carlin Motorsport     + 5.319
 7.  Marco Bonanomi     RC Motorsport         + 6.013
 8.  Guillaume Moreau   KTR                   + 7.351
 9.  Mikhail Aleshin    Carlin Motorsport     + 8.227
10.  James Walker       Fortec Motorsport     + 8.839
11.  Milos Pavlovic     Draco Racing          + 9.344
12.  Miguel Molina      Pons Racing           + 9.699
13.  Davide Valsecchi   Epsilon Euskadi       +10.181
14.  Alejandro Nunez    Team Comtec           +13.773
15.  F.Albuquerque      Epsilon Euskadi       +14.511
16.  Benjamin Hanley    Prema Powerteam       +14.656
17.  Salvador Duran     Interwetten.com       +14.749
18.  A.Ciompi           EuroInternational     +16.297
19.  P.Di Sabatino      GD Racing             +19.855
20.  Pippa Mann         Cram Competition      +20.391
21.  G.van der Garde    Victory Engineering   +20.986
22.  Daniel Move        Interwetten.com       +21.578
23.  Julian Theobald    EuroInternational     +23.042
24.  Carlos Iaconelli   Pons Racing           +2 laps

Retirements

     Luiz Razia         GD Racing             25 laps
     Fairuz Fauzy       Cram Competition      19 laps
     Xavier Maassen     Prema Powerteam        7 laps
     Michael Herck      Team Comtec            0 laps
     Charlie Kimball    Victory Engineering    0 laps
     Clivio Piccione    RC Motorsport          0 laps