Valles lucks into race one victory

On a damp and slippery track, pole sitter Felix Porteiro took an early lead and battled hard with Patrick Pilet for most of the race. However, with three laps to go, Pilet passed Porteiro for the lead at the Parabolica, but in defending his lead he ran over the grass at the first chicane and spun.

Porteiro had to momentarily back off to avoid hitting Pilet, allowing Valles, who had been holding a watching brief on the leading pair throughout, to sneak through and take the victory. It was his first since the sprint race at Donington Park.

Markus Winkelhock took his sixth podium finish of the season with third, closing to within a second of Porteiro by the chequered flag.

Pilet recovered and finish fourth, which was still his best result of the season.

Former GP2 runner Ryan Sharp was in contention at the beginning of the race, having been one of only three drivers to gamble on wet tyres. He vaulted form eighth on the grid to third within two laps, but despite the extra grip, he spun off at Roggia.

Newly crowned champion Robert Kubica registered his first non-finish of the season, after a collision with Colin Fleming sent him into the gravel.

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Driver      Team                   Time
 1.  Valles      Pons Racing            27:53.769
 2.  Porteiro    Epsilon Euskadi        +   2.048
 3.  Winkelhock  Draco Multiracing Usa  +   2.856
 4.  Pilet       GD Racing              +  15.446
 5.  Gommendy    KTR                    +  19.057
 6.  Salignon    Cram Competition       +  19.767
 7.  Miguez      Pons Racing            +  21.745
 8.  Rigon       Victory Engineering    +  22.464
 9.  Van Lagen   KTR                    +  23.351
10.  Monfardini  Dams                   +  25.000
11.  Pagenaud    DHG Saulnier Racing    +  26.534
12.  Montanari   Draco Multiracing Usa  +  29.266
13.  Watts       Eurointernational      +  30.855
14.  Tedeschi    RC Motorsport          +  43.746
15.  Pellegrino  RC Motorsport          +  45.056
16.  Antinucci   Victory Engineering    +  53.616
17.  Bellarosa   Avelon Formula         +  57.283
18.  Fukuda      DHG Saulnier Racing    +1:21.724
19.  Bennani     Avelon Formula         +  1 lap
20.  Mondini     Carlin Motorsport      +  3 laps

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Driver      Team                 On Lap
     Pasini      Cram Competition       12
     Fleming     Jenzer Motorsport      10
     Rees        Interwetten             6
     Iaconelli   Interwetten             6
     Kubica      Epsilon Euskadi         5
     Pavlovic    GD Racing               5
     Maldonado   Dams                    5
     Zuber       Carlin Motorsport       3
     Sharp       Jenzer Motorsport       2
     Meneghello  Eurointernational       0