Pantano wins chaotic race

However, the event was overshadowed by Ernesto Viso's horrifying accident, from which he escaped remarkably unscathed.

The race started with a bang when iSport teammates Timo Glock and Andi Zuber, who had annexed the front row, contrived to drive into each other within yards of the start.

Zuber's car was sent flying, landing on top of Glock's head. Both were out, with Glock the first to report to the medical centre in a neck brace.

That intra-team farrago paled into insignificance when Viso's Racing Engineering car was launched over the back of Michael Ammermuller's ART machine with sickening force on the run between the Adelaide hairpin and the Nurburgring chicane.

It vaulted over the concrete wall, somersaulting as it did so, just missing the bridge parapet and four marshals but slamming through an advertising hording.

The safety car was soon on track as medical crews tended to Viso. This prompted a flurry of pitstops on lap two, with all bar three cars pitting.

The narrow pitlane sparked chaos, with the order before the stops being Bruno Senna leading from Lucas di Grassi, Pantano and Pastor Maldonado.

Meanwhile, Nicolas Lapierre ran over one of DAMS' tyre changers, fortunately without serious injury.

The cars exited in the order Pantano, di Grassi, Senna and Maldonado - with Senna in particular getting compromised as he had to lock up to avoid collecting di Grassi.

Just as they rejoined, the red flags were thrown to ensure Viso's removal to hospital was as swift as possible.

After what seemed like an age, the race restarted with Kohei Hirate and Karun Chandhok, neither of whom had pitted, leading the way.

Normal service was soon resumed, with Pantano pulling away up front from di Grassi, Maldonado and Senna.

Behind them, Luca Filippi charged up to fifth, removing Super Nova team-mate Mike Conway with a biff at the hairpin.

Senna lost his fourth place to Filippi soon after when he ran wide at 180. Maldonado then hit major gearbox downshift problems, tumbling down the order in the latter stages, losing places to Filippi and Senna straight away.

It was Filippi's turn to hit trouble, and his reduced pace allowed Senna to close in. The Brazilian nicked the podium on the very last lap, when Filippi slid wide under braking for the hairpin and Senna cheekily nipped through.

Vitaly Petrov finished fifth, ahead of Adrian Zaugg, Javier Villa and Lapierre, who took pole for the reverse grid race tomorrow despite a huge spin at Estoril.

Conway recovered to ninth, with Maldonado hobbling home 10th.

Briton Adam Carrol, returning to the series with the FMS International team, was disqualified from the race on lap three.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                    Time       
 1.  Pantano       Campos Grand Prix       1h52:32.513
 2.  Di Grassi     ART Grand Prix          +     8.777
 3.  Senna         Arden                   +    22.476
 4.  Filippi       Super Nova              +    24.585
 5.  Petrov        Campos Grand Prix       +    40.162
 6.  Zaugg         Arden                   +    40.699
 7.  Villa         Racing Engineering      +    41.206
 8.  Lapierre      DAMS                    +    48.246
 9.  Conway        Super Nova              +    52.431
10.  Maldonado     Trident Racing          +    55.890
11.  Yamamoto      BCN Competicion         +    59.032
12.  Garcia        Durango                 +  1:01.960
13.  Soucek        DPR                     +  1:04.692
14.  Tung          BCN Competicion         +  1:08.394
15.  Tahinci       FMS                     +  1:27.103
16.  Rodriguez     Minardi Piquet Sports   +     1 Lap
17.  Nakajima      DAMS                    +     1 Lap

Not classified:

     Driver        Team                   Laps
     Negrao        Minardi Piquet Sports   31
     Hirate        Trident Racing          31
     Bakkerud      DPR                     18
     Chandhok      Durango                  6
     Glock         iSport                   0
     Zuber         iSport                   0
     Ammermuller   ART Grand Prix           0
     Viso          Racing Engineering       0

Fastest lap: Rodriguez, 1:23.405 on lap 39