Rigon claims first Superleague victory

Poleman Rigon held off challenges from Borja Garcia (Sevilla FC) and the fast-starting Kasper Anderson (Olympiacos) at the kick-off. He then kept his cool during an early safety car spell - caused by ex-Formula One racer Robert Doornbos's AC Milan car pulling off at Coppice - and controlled the racer after the restart.

Anderson fell back before retiring, leaving AS Roma's Enrico Toccacelo to challenge Garcia for second. When Garcia hit suspected gearbox troubles, Toccacelo took the place and chased after Rigon.

Former A1GP racer Toccacelo chipped away at Rigon's lead, but never got close enough to mount a challenge.

As Garcia fell back with his problem, the battle for third became a straight fight between Tottenham's Duncan Tappy and PSV Eindhoven's Yelmer Buurman. Tappy had driven a stunning opening lap to jump from eighth to fourth and was able to hold Buurman off by 0.396s at the flag.

Star of the race, though, was Adrian Valles. After suffering electrical problems in practice, which forced him to start 17th and last, the Liverpool racer stormed through to take fifth from Al Ain's Andi Zuber in the closing stages.

The expected reliability problems did strike, with six of the seven retirements being due to technical issues. First among those was Doornbos, who should start the reverse grid race two from pole position if his car can be repaired in time.

Pos Driver                  Team                     Time    
 1. Davide Rigon            Beijing Guoan       41:29.425
 2. Enrico Toccacelo        AS Roma                +2.577
 3. Duncan Tappy            Tottenham Hotspur     +14.909
 4. Yelmer Buurman          PSV Eindhoven         +15.305
 5. Adrian Valles           Liverpool             +20.184
 6. Andi Zuber              Al Ain                +22.996
 7. Tristan Gommendy        FC Porto              +23.675
 8. Ryan Dalziel            Rangers               +24.571
 9. Max Wissel              FC Basel              +25.449
10. Borja García            Sevilla FC            +29.431

Retirements

    Andy Soucek             Corinthians           14 laps
    Kasper Andersen         Olympiacos            10 laps
    Alessandro Pier Guidi   Galatasaray            9 laps
    Craig Dolby             Anderlecht             7 laps
    Nelson Philippe         Borussia Dortmund      6 laps
    Tuka Rocha              Flamengo               2 laps
    Robert Doornbos         AC Milan               0 laps


Fastest lap, Rigon 1:20.183 on lap 10