Grosjean takes dominant Dubai win

The reigning Formula Three Euro Series champion led from start to finish after streaking away at the head of the field. The start was controversial, with the red lights only showing for a fraction of a second before they went out and the race begun.

Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) opened a 1.7 seconds lead on the opening lap, as Andy Soucek (DPR) passed Bruno Senna (iSport) at the hairpin on the opening lap. Senna briefly battled his way back ahead, but Soucek made another tough move stick. All this allowed Grosjean to escape.

Luca Filippi (Meritus) jumped ahead of Karun Chandhok (iSport) off the startline, and the Indian became stuck behind the Italian. Chandhok was the first of the leaders to pit, on lap 12, but then spun at Turn 1 as he rejoined on cold tyres, losing valuable time and places.

Senna, who was likewise stuck behind Soucek, pitted three laps later. His stop was slow, however, so when Soucek pitted a lap later, he rejoined well ahead of Bruno.

Grosjean, meanwhile, rattled off his stop without problem. He turned a five-second lead over Soucek into over 12 seconds by the time Senna caught and finally found a way past the Spaniard.

Senna did it in style, zapping around the outside of Soucek at the hairpin when he covered an inside lunge that never came.

But it was too late to do anything about Grosjean, who motored to a 12.3-second victory. Senna settled for second, with fastest lap, with Soucek happy with another GP2 podium finish.

Adrian Valles (FMS) was best of the rest, closing right up on Soucek in the closing stages when the latter caught a kerb on the exit of a corner, and his car's engine revs got stuck on the rev limiter. But Soucek held him at bay, with Luca Filippi (Meritus) coming home close behind in fifth.

Filippi was livid with Jason Tahinci (BCN), who mistakenly held him up when he thought he was racing for position. Filippi's teammate, Hiroki Yoshimoto, made it a great day for the Asian newcomer team in sixth place.

Sebastien Buemi (Arden) finished seventh, ahead of Chandhok, who spun again when battling with Yoshimoto. The Indian has been suffering with a heavy cold all weekend, and said he "coughed his way through the second half of the race". He will start tomorrow's reverse grid race from pole position.

Classified:

Pos  Driver             Team                      Time
 1.  Grosjean           ART Grand Prix            59:25.309
 2.  Senna              iSport International       + 12.358
 3.  Soucek             DPR                        + 17.347
 4.  Valles             FMS International          + 17.768
 5.  Filippi            Qi-Meritus Mahara          + 18.309
 6.  Yoshimoto          Qi-Meritus Mahara          + 28.209
 7.  Buemi              Trust Team Arden           + 30.970
 8.  Chandhok           iSport International       + 36.568
 9.  Fauzy              Super Nova Racing          + 40.767
10.  Valerio            Durango                    + 46.218
11.  Pavlovic           BCN Competicion            + 59.581
12.  D'ambrosio         Dams                       + 60.029
13.  Nunes              Campos Team                + 62.146
14.  Kobayashi          Dams                       + 62.634
15.  Schlegelmilch      Trident Racing             + 69.902
16.  Jelley             ART Grand Prix             + 84.834
17.  Puglisi            Piquet Sports              + 1 lap
18.  Valsecchi          Durango                    + 1 lap
19.  Khan               Trust Team Arden           + 1 lap
20.  Tahinci            BCN Competicion            + 1 lap
21.  Bonanomi           Piquet Sports              + 1 lap
22.  Ebrahim            DPR                        + 2 laps
23.  Tung               Trident Racing             + 2 laps

Not classified:

     Driver       Team                     Laps
     Herck        FMS International         10
     Bakkerud     Super Nova Racing          6
     Petrov       Campos Team                0

Fastest lap: Senna, 1:22.462 on lap 40