Loic Duval kept his head while others around were losing theirs in challenging wet conditions at Zandvoort to give France its first win of the 2008/09 season.
Despite the fact that he hadn't stepped into the new Powered by
Ferrari car until qualifying, Duval was able to bring the car home to the finish after a race featuring multiple accidents and Safety Car periods – one of which ran right to the chequered flag.
As was the case in the sprint race, the Safety Car led the field round at the start, with Brazil not on the grid following its accident in the latter stages of the first race.
The race itself kicked off in earnest when the Safety Car pulled off at the end of lap two with poleman Fairuz Fauzy leading the way, but it quickly became apparent just how tricky conditions were as Charlie Kimball suffered a spin in the Team USA car at turn six, although he was able to rejoin without problems.
Teenager Earl Bamber held second in the opening stages but lost out to both Duval and home hero Jeroen Bleekemolen before two of the fancied runners were forced out on lap five; Switzerland after Neel Jani pitted with technical problems and Ireland after Adam Carroll spun off and found himself beached in the gravel.
Within a lap, two more teams had been forced out after Italy and South Africa went off together; Fabio Onidi losing his car under braking and collecting the luckless Adrian Zaugg with both cars ending up parked in the gravel as a result.
The first round of pitstops saw both Malaysia and the Netherlands lose time as they struggled with the wheel change, while France elected to leave Duval out longer than anyone else and he made the most of a clear track to build a lead he was able to maintain after the stops had taken place.
Bleekemolen was soon back on pit road with a problem with the Dutch car, but was able to resume although having dropped down the order as a result. However, a series of incidents then led to the Safety Car being deployed for the first time.
![Loic Duval - A1 Team France [Pic credit: A1GP]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/499217.jpg)
