Piquet Ends Perfect Day for Brazil

Piquet pulled off a stunning passing move around the outside of the Australian car of Will Power at Surtees corner, after Power won the pitstop battle between the two and took the lead.

Piquet pulled away strongly from pole position but lost time in his mandatory pitstop. The former British Formula Three Champion was all over the back of Power after a safety car period and took only a couple of laps to pass.

Piquet then pulled away and held an 11.330-second lead at the chequered flag.

Mexican Salvador Duran held off at the advances of sprint race podium finisher Matt Halliday in the New Zealand car. Both of their races were comeback drives, with Duran stalling during his mandatory pitstop and Halliday having to start from the pitlane after failing to get away from the dummy grid.

Khalil Beschir supplied the most spectacular incident in the race after a clash with the Italian car of Enrico Toccacelo.

Toccacelo went to pass the Lebanese car on the inside of Paddock Hill bend and looked as if he would be able to sneek through. However Bechir turned in on Toccacelo, pitching him into a series of barrel rolls through the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend. Both cars were eliminated in the incident, and Beschir walked away from the car uninjured.

The resultant safety car period allowed Robbie Kerr's Great Britain car to get into the lead after beating Power and Piquet out of the pits, however his stint at the head of the field ended before the safety car had pulled in, with mechanical failure. Kerr rolled to a halt on the Brabham straight.

The Russian car of Alexey Vasiliev caused another safety car period, after spinning and parking his car across the track at Westfield.

Team France should have lined up second on the grid after Alexandre Premat's impressive performance in the first race, however he stalled at the lights and failed to get away. Karun Chandhok's Team India car also was left behind at the green light.

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Team            Time
 1.  Brazil          55:01.910
 2.  Australia       +  11.330
 3.  Mexico          +  23.125
 4.  New Zealand     +  23.705
 5.  Malaysia        +  24.352
 6.  South Africa    +  24.852
 7.  Netherlands     +  25.630
 8.  Japan           +  26.219
 9.  Canada          +  27.179
10.  Germany         +   1 Lap
11.  Austria         +   1 Lap
12.  China           +   1 Lap
13.  Pakistan        +  3 Laps

RETIREMENTS:

     Team             On Lap
     Czech Republic     25
     Russia             19
     Great Britain      18
     Usa                15
     Lebanon            14
     Italy              14
     Portugal            2
     Switzerland         2
     Ireland             1
     Indonesia           1
     France             DNS
     India              DNS