Rodriguez wins as Kobayashi spins

Although the Piquet GP driver started from pole, he had to wait until the final three laps to actually lead the race after Kamui Kobayashi overtook him during the opening lap.

The Toyota Formula One test driver settled into the lead and looked to be comfortably controlling the pace, but came unstuck when he ran wide at Turn 2 and swung into a half-spin.

By the time he gathered it up Rodriguez had gone past him, and with no time left to chase the Spaniard down, Kobayashi was forced to settle for second, also setting the fastest lap right at the end.

ART's Sakon Yamamoto enjoyed a drama-free run to third ahead of Javier Villa, while New Zealanders Earl Bamber and Chris van der Drift were the best of the newcomers, finishing just behind Vitaly Petrov in sixth and seventh respectively.

Behind them though, there was all manner of minor disasters playing out. Yamamoto's teammate Nelson Philippe was one victim, failing to get away properly at the start, then damaging his front wing on another team's pit lane equipment while trying to rejoin the race. He probably thought at that point that things couldn't get any worse, but that was before he was dealt a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Arden's Mika Maki was forced to retire after contact with Durango's Davide Valsecchi while the pair were scrapping over 16th and Sergio Perez spun and stalled at turn two just a few moments later, prompting a lengthy spell behind the safety car.

Valsecchi was a bit part player in another incident after the restart, when he and Andi Zuber touched when Zuber was trying a move up the inside. The FMS driver spun straight into the path of James Jakes, who had nowhere to go but into the side of him. Both cars were out on the spot, as was Hiroki Yoshimoto when he was hit from behind by Alex Yoong shortly afterwards.

A final safety car was summoned with 10 laps to go after DPR's Hiroki Sekiguchui braked far too late while dicing with BCN's Luca Filippi and skidded into the side of the Italian, immediately ending the race for both of them.

Pos  Driver                Team               Time
 1.  Rodriguez             Piquet             1:06.23.303
 2.  Kobayashi             DAMS                  +  0.632
 3.  Yamamoto              ART                   +  3.971
 4.  Villa                 Super Nova            +  7.235
 5.  Petrov                Barwa Campos          +  9.405
 6.  Bamber                Qi-Meritus            + 11.675
 7.  Van Der Drift         Trident               + 15.546
 8.  Valsecchi             Durango               + 16.178
 9.  D'Ambrosio            DAMS                  + 16.495
10.  Van Der Garde         iSport                + 16.811
11.  Iaconelli             Durango               + 20.604
12.  Nunes                 Piquet                + 21.618
13.  Ricci                 Trident               + 23.109
14.  Yoong                 Qi-Meritus            + 25.892
15.  Al Fardan             iSport                + 26.419
16.  Herck                 DPR                   + 26.821
17.  Philippe              ART                   + 1 laps

Not classified
     Driver                Team                 Laps
     Filippi               BCN                  + 24 laps
     Sekiguchi             DPR                  + 24 laps
     Nai Chia Chen         FMS                  + 24 laps
     Yoshimoto             BCN                  + 20 laps
     Zuber                 FMS                  + 19 laps
     Jakes                 Super Nova           + 19 laps
     Maki                  TTA                  + 10 laps
     Perez                 Barwa Campos         + 10 laps
     Razia                 TTA                  +  3 laps