Van der Garde scores second win of the season
The win was set up at the start when the Dutchman blew past poleman Edoardo Mortara as the lights went out to claim the inside line for turn one and a lead which was never in doubt again. Behind him though was chaos, as Dani Clos ran into Nico Hülkenberg leaving Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Luca Filippi nowhere to go but into the pair.
Pastor Maldonado made a strong start to slot in behind van der Garde and Mortara, and was soon looking for a way past the Italian: he tried his luck on the outside of turn five but found the grass instead, spinning across the track and into the wall, forcing Kamui Kobayashi to spin in avoidance, and prompting the safety car out until the track could be cleared.Â
Race one winner Alvaro Parente was promoted to fourth as a result, but it wasn't to last: the Portuguese driver's race ended one lap later in a cloud of smoke, pushing Nunes and Lucas di Grassi up one spot, the latter easily disposing of his compatriot when the race went live before closing in on Mortara. Â
He got a little too close, however, and one lap later ran over the Italian's rear wheel into the Bus Stop, putting both drivers out on the spot and promoting Sergio Perez to fourth, ahead of Davide Valsecchi and Rigon. For the remainder of the race the battles to watch were for the minor points places: van der Garde easily rolled out a victory three seconds ahead of Rodriguez, while Nunes had to absorb race long pressure from Perez to claim his podium finish, and behind them Rigon made a spectacular move on his namesake at the end of the main straight to claim a strong fifth position.
Championship contender Petrov finally found a way by teammate Valsecchi for sixth place to keep himself mathematically in the title hunt: he goes to Monza 27 points behind Hülkenberg with 40 points left to play for over the final two weekends of the season.