Once back in front, the Italian set about gradually extending his advantage over Glock and Zuber, stringing the front three out over six seconds. Senna followed at a respectful distance but, behind the Brazilian, it was anybody's game as Aren team-mate Zaugg frustrated a group comprising di Grassi, Lapierre, Borja Garcia, Ammermuller and, after closing the gap while those ahead of him battled, Kaun Chandhok.
di Grassi was clearly faster than the young South African ahead of him and, after one abortive attempt to pass the Arden car around the outside at turn one, pounced on the return leg to move into fifth. The ART man's pace was immediately apparent as he eased out a second's cushion in the space of a lap, easing his passage to the flag.
Zaugg, emanwhile, then found himself under pressure from Lapierre who, in turn, had the Garcia and co waiting for the slightest slip-up. The Frenchman, however, was never as committed as di Grassi as he looked for a way around Zaugg and, one minor brush aside, was unable to gain any further ground.
Fortunately for Lapierre, the cars behind proved equally ineffective, with Garcia appearing to settle for eighth - and Sunday sprint race pole - as the race entered its closing stages. That left him open to attack from Ammermuller, but the pass never came and Durango team-mate Chandhok removed the ART threat by passing his German rival with four laps to run.
Further back, DPR and BCN waged their own private war, with Andy Soucek dicing with
F1 refugee Sakon Yamamoto and Bakkerud holding off Ho-Pin Tung for much of the second half. Soucek's resistance was the first to crack and, having already swapped places with his Japanese opponent, found he had no answer when the final pass came on the final run through turn one.
Filippi was never tested in that way, pulling away to an eight-second win by the chequered flag, returning Super Nova to the glory days last experienced with Adam Carroll in the inaugural season of GP2. With David Sears' A!GP teams - Germany and New Zealand - also doing well, perhaps there is something in the water Norfolk-way.
