The pit window had produced few changes among the leading order, although FMaster champion Chris van der Drift had moved up to seventh, ahead of Filippi, van der Garde, Valsecchi, Zuber and Jakes. Despite the combative nature of the pack, therefore, it was a surprise when no-one appeared keen to make a move at the restart on lap 16, although Hamad Al Fardan was caught out a little later around the lap, running off the road and spinning to a halt.

van der Garde cost himself a shot at Sunday pole when he ran off the road at speed on lap 19, allowing both Valsecchi and Zuber through, but made the places back when the pair collided again, this time as Zuber appeared to hesitate on a passing move at turn one. The Austrian came off worst in the collision, spinning into the path of the hapless Jakes, who lost the front of his car and had to retire. Zuber, too, was in trouble as the second contact broke the steering on his FMSI entry. At the same time, Hiroki Yoshimoto's race was ended by contact from Nunes that broke his rear wing, although the Japanese driver made it back to the pit before being persuaded it was over by the BCN crew.

Valsecchi, meanwhile, was not about to have it easy, with van der Garde and the recovering d'Ambrosio - helped by the safety car - harrying him for ninth. When Filippi became the next driver to run wide, the battle was elevated to that for pole in Sunday's sprint.

A second safety car period, precipitated by a clash between Filippi and Yuhi Sekiguchi, allowed the battles to close up, but Kobayashi still held sway out front, with Rodriguez, Yamamoto, Villa, Petrov, Bamber, van der Drift and Valsecchi unchanged in the points positions behind. van der Garde continued to lead d'Ambrosio in ninth and tenth and, when Valsecchi took a look at van der Drift on the restart, harboured hopes of possibly making it into the top eight, before the door shut once again.

Just as it appeared that everything was settled, however, Kobayashi made the mistake that would turn the result on its head, running wide at turn four and allowing Rodriguez to sweep back ahead for the first time since lap one. With just a handful of laps remaining, the gap between the top two proved impossible to bridge, especially as Rodriguez upped his pace to match that of his pursuer. Yamamoto had also taken a look at his countryman as Kobayashi resumed, but was forced back into third, giving Japan two drivers on the podium.

Villa, Petrov and Bamber crossed the line with comfortable gaps between them, but the battle for the final point raged right to the chequered flag, with d'Ambrosio having overcome van der Garde and closed right in on Valsecchi. The DAMS driver looked every which way for a path passed the Italian, but eventually lost out by a fraction at the line.