Kamui   Kobayashi  inherits  win  after  restart  mistake  by  Romain  Grosjean  with  3  laps remaining. Kamui Kobayashi claimed his maiden win in this year’s series today in race two at the Circuit de Catalunya  in  Barcelona  after  a  mistake  by  Romain  Grosjean  at  the  restart  with  just  3  laps remaining handed the Japanese driver the lead ahead of Sébastien Buemi and Giorgio Pantano.

Grosjean looked to have the race sewn up after dispatching Kobayashi at turn one on the second lap, but a spin by Giacomo Ricci at the final turn prompted a safety car period: at the restart the French  driver  ran  wide  before  re-entering  the  track  and  was  extremely  forceful  to  maintain  his position at turn one, but was handed a drive through penalty for his efforts. The Toyota test driver got  away  well  from  pole  but  had  fellow  front  row  starter  Buemi  right  next  to  him,  and  the  pair drifted well right until Buemi had to concede: the move opened a huge corridor for Grosjean to slide through, claiming the scalp of his countryman with Pantano only just failing to follow through with him. Further back Karun Chandhok spun to the back before restarting, while the Piquet Sports pair of Pastor  Maldonado  and  Andreas  Zuber  started  what  was  to  become  and  almost  race  long slugfest.

Grosjean had no time to wait and efficiently dispatched his rival for the lead next time around,  and  while  the  pair  were  easily  the  fastest  drivers  Kobayashi  was  unable  to  stay  with Grosjean, who already had the race easily under control. His teammate Luca Filippi, meanwhile, seemed to have all of ART’s bad luck: despite a great getaway putting him in the middle of the Piquet fight, his engine soon gave up the ghost and he was back in the pits for good.

Ben Hanley was also pushing hard, but a very wide Adrian Valles was denying his every attack: with the layout in Barcelona not in the Englishman’s favour, he had to wait 18 laps for a mistake to finally hand him the position. It was around that time that Maldonado and Zuber’s fight boiled over, with the pair coming together as Zuber muscled his way past after a collision gave him the inside line. It was a move too far however, and the pair were soon back in the pits to retire as a result of the damage collected in the incident, while back on track Ricci caught the kerb and spun just before the final turn, stalling in the middle of the track much to the surprise of the rest of the field and prompting the inevitable safety car period.

At  the  restart  Grosjean  lost  the  composure  he  had  shown  all  race  long  by  running  wide  at  the chicane  and  crossing  the  run  off  area,  forcing  his  way  back  on  track  in  front  of  Kobayashi and dealing with him very firmly at the end of the straight: he was brought with one lap remaining to hand  the  delighted  Japanese  driver  the  win  and  the  bonus  point  for  fastest  lap  time,  ahead  of Buemi, Pantano, Bruno Senna, an ecstatic Davide Valsecchi and local driver Javier Villa.