Timo Glock tightened his grip on the GP2 Series points lead by adding a first victory of the year to a trio of second place finishes in the sprint event at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.
The German again came from seventh on the reverse grid to claim a podium position, as he had in Bahrain a month ago, but this time went one better by catching and passing poleman Javier Villa before disappearing into the distance.
Villa stayed the course in second place to claim his first podium, but had to withstand late race pressure from Lucas di Grassi and Bruno Senna, who closed on the racing Engineering car as tyre wear became a factor. Senna could have claimed his second podium of the weekend after catching his fellow Brazilian, but came up short by just over a tenth of a second in the sprint to the flag.
Sergio Jiminez took fifth after a quiet race spoiled by a poor getaway from the front row, while Giorgio Pantano opened his account for 2007 by coming from 22nd on the grid to snatch sixth from
Kazuki Nakajima on the line. The pair had both managed to dispatch the Italian's Campos team-mate Vitaly Petrov in the closing stages, but Pantano appeared to catch Nakajima napping as the pair raced to the flag.
Once again, the race started - or rather didn't - with problems for several runners, none moreso than Bahrain sprint winner Nicolas Lapierre, who failed to leave the grid for the warm-up lap, as his engine pumped water all over the road. The Frenchman, who had the engine running, was pushed to the pits for the start, but then had to sit through another aborted getaway as both Borja Garcia and Pastor Maldonado stalled. While Lapierre's fresh engine - installed after his huge blow-up on Saturday - slowly boiled, the two stallers joined him in the queue, and the field went around for a third time, no doubt trying teenager Villa's nerves.
