Hartley got a good getaway on the restart, followed by second place Perez, with Atte Mustinen in third. Turvey once again lost out at the first corner, losing fourth place to Jaime Alguersuari but he fought back and regained the place at Hawrhorns. Michael Devaney, who had moved up to 19th after starting at the back of the grid had blitzed through the field and was challenging Ali Jackson for tenth on the outside at Tower but overcooked it and went off. The Irish driver rejoin the track but only to retire the Mygale at the end of the lap.
Hartley now had control of the race, putting in fastest laps on lap three and lap four, breaking
Takuma Sato's eight year old F3 racord, and more importantly opening up a slight gap to the second placed Mexican driver. Perez responded, closing the gap to the New Zealander but not getting close enough to challenge for the lead.
Meanwhile the two leading cars were pulling away from Mustonen, who was being tracked by Turvey, Alguersuari, Sebastian Hohenthal and Nick Tandy. Further back John Martin spun his Double R Racing Dallara at Sunny and rejoined the track only to retire.
In the National Class, Meyrick was mixing it with the International Class runners in eighth place, three places ahead of Salman Al Khalifa who had Stefan Wilson and Jay Bridger snapping at his heals. Philip Major, who was just ahead on the road of Wilson, collided with the
BRDC award winner at the hairpin, the Canadian driver getting stuck on the grass at the exit while Wilson continued. This allowed Bridger to catch up with Al Khalifa but Hywell Lloyd, who was now fourth in class joined in with the podium battle.
Meanwhile nearer the front Nick Tandy was tracking the Fortec Dallara of Sebastian Hohenthal and tried to make a move on the Swede at Tower but had to back out as Hohenthal held onto the racing line. However Tandy tried again, braking late for the Hairpin and with a cloud of tyre smoke from his front left the Mygale driver made the move stick on lap 15.
