Vettel was a rather lonely third, over two seconds away from the win he needed to keep his title dreams alive, a result that means di Resta joins compatriots Jamie Green and
Lewis Hamilton on the list of champions, even if the Scot did endure one of his most challenging races of the season.
Eventually he would finish the race back in tenth, actually behind van der Garde after the Dutchman found a way past as di Resta attempted a move on eighth place Jonathan Summerton and instead found himself off the track briefly.
As a result, both van der Garde and di Resta have it all to do in the second race from ninth and tenth on the grid, while Summerton has the honour of starting final race of the season from pole position.
Alongside him on the grid will be Robert Streit, the Brazilian making an impressive comeback to the series after a two year absence to record only the second points scoring result for Prema Powerteam this season. Fourth, fifth and sixth in the results – and therefore third, fourth and fifth on the grid for the second race – were Guillaume Moreau, Kohei Hirate and Charlie Kimball.