D'Ambrosio claims first GP2 victory

The DAMS driver led all the way from pole, but his early efforts to build a lead were dashed when Coloni's Alberto Valerio and Arden's Rodolfo Gonzalez crashed simultaneously at different parts of the circuit and prompted a safety car.

That brought D'Ambrosio back within range of Giedo van der Garde, and he had the Addax car in his mirrors for virtually the rest of the race, finally crossing the line just 0.3 seconds clear.

There was a lot of scrapping behind them for third place, which eventually went to ART's Jules Bianchi after a determined drive and a couple of brave passing moves. Rapax's Luiz Razia had been on target for the final podium place for most of the race, but after seeing off an early challenge from Valerio (which ended with Valerio hitting the wall at the chicane), he soon found himself under pressure from Bianchi.

The Frenchman eventually found a way past, while Razia lost another spot when he made a mistake on the penultimate lap and allowed Trident's Johnny Cecotto to slip past into fourth. Yesterday's winner Sergio Perez (Addax) took the final point for sixth.

The race was sprinkled with incidents, starting with Dani Clos ripping a wheel off on the barriers on lap nine and ending Racing Engineering's interest in the afternoon, with Christian Vietoris having failed to make the start due to an engine problem.

There was also a slew of drivethrough penalties, with the victims including Pastor Maldonado (jump-start), Rodriguez (jump-start) and Oliver Turvey, Davide Valsecchi, and Fabio Leimer (all for cutting the first corner at the start).

Pos  Driver               Team                  Time/Gap
 1.  Jerome D'Ambrosio    DAMS                43m43.804s
 2.  Giedo van der Garde  Barwa Addax           + 0.351s
 3.  Jules Bianchi        ART                   + 1.078s
 4.  Johnny Cecotto       Trident               + 2.919s
 5.  Luiz Razia           Rapax                 + 6.572s
 6.  Sergio Perez         Barwa Addax           + 7.257s
 7.  Charles Pic          Arden                 + 7.903s
 8.  Josef Kral           Super Nova            + 8.837s
 9.  Marcus Ericsson      Super Nova            + 9.431s
10.  Sam Bird             ART                  + 10.046s
11.  Pastor Maldonado     Rapax                + 10.465s
12.  Adrian Zaugg         Trident              + 11.239s
13.  Vlado Arabadjiev     Coloni               + 12.591s
14.  Max Chilton          Ocean                + 25.246s
15.  Oliver Turvey        iSport               + 25.461s
16.  Davide Valsecchi     iSport               + 25.703s
17.  Fabio Leimer         Ocean                + 26.063s

Retirements:

     Michael Herck        DPR                 22 laps
     Ho-Pin Tung          DAMS                20 laps
     Giacomo Ricci        DPR                 17 laps
     Alberto Valerio      Coloni              14 laps
     Rodolfo Gonzalez     Arden               14 laps
     Dani Clos            Racing Engineering  8 laps
     Christian Vietoris   Racing Engineering  0 laps