Sébastien Buemi has taken a dramatic win in damp conditions at the Circuit Magny-Cours: after starting 21st on slick tyres he ignored the chaos all around to him to record a memorable victory ahead of teammate Yelmer Buurman and Luca Filippi.
Rain fell steadily on the French circuit overnight but stopped just prior to the start, handing engineers all along the pitlane a nightmarish decision to make: do you play it safe and run wets, or throw the dice and gamble on slicks?
The eventual podium provided an answer, albeit too late for the rest of the grid: the gamble paid off handsomely for all three drivers by the end of the race.
The tricky conditions caught out many drivers: Romain Grosjean retired in the gravel trap just after changing to slicks, with most of the field hitting someone as they struggled to control their cars, including a big impact at the hairpin between Giorgio Pantano and Petrov which put the series leader out of the race shortly after.
Meanwhile Buemi was pushing hard to get on terms with his teammate, finally catching and overtaking him on lap 21 after the pair ran wheel to wheel for half a lap until the hairpin.
Standing - Race 2:
1 - Sébastien Buemi - Arden - 28 laps en 43'08"504
2 - Yelmer Buurman - Arden - 6"639
3 - Luca Filippi - ART - 23"953
4 - Lucas Di Grassi - Campos - 24"479
5 - Bruno Senna - iSport - 29"439
6 - Mike Conway - Trident - 35"924
7 - Pastor Maldonado - Piquet - 38"074
8 - Andreas Zuber - Piquet - 43"060
9 - Kamui Kobayashi - Dams - 45"558
10 - Javier Villa - Racing Engineering - 46"756
11 - Marko Asmer - FMSI - 52"901
12 - Adrian Valles - BCN - 1 lap
13 - Carlos Iaconelli - BCN - 1 lap
14 - Ho Pin Tung - Trident - 2 laps
15 - Michael Herck - DPR - 2 laps
16 - Roldan Rodriguez - FMSI - 2 laps
17 - Alberto Valerio - Durango - 2 laps
Best lap : Kamui Kobayashi 1'23"550
Championship :
1.Pantano 35; 2.Senna 28; 3.Buemi 20; 4.Grosjean, Parente 19; 6.Maldonado 18; 7.Petrov, Zuber 17; 9.Chandhok 13; 10.Conway 12; 11.Di Grassi 11; 12.Kobayashi 9; 13.Tung 7; 14.Rodriguez 6; 15.Buurman, Valles 5; 17.Filippi 4; 18.D'Ambrosio, Villa 3; 20.Valsecchi 2; 21.Hanley, Soucek, Carroll 1.
Rain fell steadily on the French circuit overnight but stopped just prior to the start, handing engineers all along the pitlane a nightmarish decision to make: do you play it safe and run wets, or throw the dice and gamble on slicks?
The eventual podium provided an answer, albeit too late for the rest of the grid: the gamble paid off handsomely for all three drivers by the end of the race.
The tricky conditions caught out many drivers: Romain Grosjean retired in the gravel trap just after changing to slicks, with most of the field hitting someone as they struggled to control their cars, including a big impact at the hairpin between Giorgio Pantano and Petrov which put the series leader out of the race shortly after.
Meanwhile Buemi was pushing hard to get on terms with his teammate, finally catching and overtaking him on lap 21 after the pair ran wheel to wheel for half a lap until the hairpin.
Standing - Race 2:
1 - Sébastien Buemi - Arden - 28 laps en 43'08"504
2 - Yelmer Buurman - Arden - 6"639
3 - Luca Filippi - ART - 23"953
4 - Lucas Di Grassi - Campos - 24"479
5 - Bruno Senna - iSport - 29"439
6 - Mike Conway - Trident - 35"924
7 - Pastor Maldonado - Piquet - 38"074
8 - Andreas Zuber - Piquet - 43"060
9 - Kamui Kobayashi - Dams - 45"558
10 - Javier Villa - Racing Engineering - 46"756
11 - Marko Asmer - FMSI - 52"901
12 - Adrian Valles - BCN - 1 lap
13 - Carlos Iaconelli - BCN - 1 lap
14 - Ho Pin Tung - Trident - 2 laps
15 - Michael Herck - DPR - 2 laps
16 - Roldan Rodriguez - FMSI - 2 laps
17 - Alberto Valerio - Durango - 2 laps
Best lap : Kamui Kobayashi 1'23"550
Championship :
1.Pantano 35; 2.Senna 28; 3.Buemi 20; 4.Grosjean, Parente 19; 6.Maldonado 18; 7.Petrov, Zuber 17; 9.Chandhok 13; 10.Conway 12; 11.Di Grassi 11; 12.Kobayashi 9; 13.Tung 7; 14.Rodriguez 6; 15.Buurman, Valles 5; 17.Filippi 4; 18.D'Ambrosio, Villa 3; 20.Valsecchi 2; 21.Hanley, Soucek, Carroll 1.