Gommendy was still pushing to try and regain second from Heylen, setting fastest lap on 50, but he was unable to make any impact on the road before the pair pitted, along with Wilson, Rahal and Legge a lap later. With the lead trio rejoining unchanged, but Junqueira’s strategy getting him between Heylen and Gommendy - and with no boost to call on - it appeared that a mistake would be required for any further change of position up front.
Further back, it was a slightly different story, with those earlier stoppers finding that they required a ‘splash and dash’ to make the flag. Clarke was the biggest casualty, giving up fifth place to rejoin in front of team-mate Doornbos in eleventh, while Tagliani and Figge went a lap down after also calling in, the American stalling to confirm his fate.
On track, Bourdais was determined to grab as many points as he could but, being stuck behind Pagenaud, had to make a move. He tried in turn six, but ran out of braking room, taking to the gravel and only just rejoining behind his adversary and ahead of the chasing Servia and Rahal.
While the midfield remained unchanged, confirming Bourdais in seventh, there was a late twist that caused hearts in the Newman/Haas/Lanigan camp to jump a little, title rival Doornbos making his own ‘splash and dash’ with just a minute or so on the clock. The Dutchman resumed in 14th, but was then gifted a place at the flag when Power ran dry and coasted to the line, also giving Legge another place after she hung tough with good fuel mileage in the closing stages.
The result was not enough for Bourdais to clinch a fourth title – something that will probably now be decided in Australia in seven weeks’ time – but was sufficient for Wilson to vault from fourth to second in the standings, capitalising on his first win of the year and poor afternoons for both Doornbos and Power. One title that
was decided was the Phanos European Teams’ Cup, which went the way of NHLR after Rahal followed Bourdais across the line in ninth.
