While he hunted down the two ahead of him, attention was being diverted by a spirited scrap for the final points positions - the all-important pole for Sunday's sprint. Owing to the fallen around him, Vitaly Petrov headed a group battling over sixth, some way behind Garcia, but comprising fellow Russian Mikhail Aleshin, Sakon Yamamoto and, eventually, both Racing Engineering cars.
Petrov was clearly slower than those in his wake, and with a car that became increasingly wayward. However, his defensive efforts provoked some feverish dicing, with feints and near misses aplenty. While Aleshin looked this way and that for a way through, Javier Villa was left to fend off Yamamoto and team-mate Jiminez who, Glock aside, was the best placed of the late stoppers.
Once past the Campos car, Aleshin immediately began lapping 3-4secs faster than Petrov, cementing sixth place on his GP2 debut as replacement for Michael Ammermuller. Petrov continued to be an obstacle for little longer, before Jiminez's determined lap 34 pass - which saw him forced to take to the pit exit lane - allowed both Villa and Yamamoto to follow him through. The luckless Russian thus found himself out of the points for Spanish-based Campos, while home favourite Racing Engineering went about wrapping up the front row for race two.
Back at the front, Glock had caught and passed di Grassi, leaving himself six laps to close on Senna. His attacking drive did not diminish in the closing stages, but the German was chasing a lost cause unless nerves got to the leader. Lapping on roughly the same pace, the gap did not close that much over the remaining laps, leaving Senna to take the flag - and his first GP2 win in only his third outing - by a shade over five seconds.
"It was a great gamble!" Senna enthused, "I was worried stopping early was the right thing to do, but the team made the right call and did a great job. The car was strong all race, but I honestly didn’t expect this start to 2007."
![Bruno Senna - Arden International [pic credit: GP2 Series media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/297638.jpg)
