Former Super Nova team-mate - and FMSI predecessor - Pantano was out by the time Carroll served his punishment, the Italian's engine letting go as he started his 18th lap. He was followed on to the sidelines by fellow veteran Nicolas Lapierre, who suffered a big off at the flat-out Copse. Initial fears that fluid from Pantano's engine had caused the incident were laid to rest when replays showed the DAMS car suddenly veering left before making heavy contact with the guard rail. Lapierre, fortunately, was able to emerge from the battered chassis, having seemingly avoided major injury.
After that, the rest of the race appeared a little staid, although the efforts of the two Arden drivers and their Racing Engineering counterparts went some way to livening up proceedings. While Zuber and Conway cruised out front, and Nakajima headed di Grassi, Luca Filippi and Carroll at a distance, Bruno Senna gave spirited chase to Michael Ammermuller and Adrian Zaugg defended manfully against Sakon Yamamoto, Javier Villa and newcomer Filipe Albuquerque.
"I have to give a big thank you to the team for doing such a good job, as always, and I know our luck hasn't been too good so far, but hopefully this is a turning point for us," Conway said.
Nakajima echoed similar sentiments after taking his best result of the year for DAMS.
"I've had a lot of bad luck earlier in the season - I think we were in a similar position to these guys!" he said in the post-race press conference, "For me, this is really the start of the season."
While Senna was unsuccessful in his attempts to prise tenth from his German opponent, Yamamoto - briefly - and Villa had more joy. Yamamoto made the first move, scything inside Zaugg at Stowe - only to find the South African fighting back at Club. Both speared onto the grass a result, and Villa gratefully accepted two places, with Albuquerque slotting in behind the recovering Zaugg. There was to be no repeat of the French joy for Racing Engineering, however, with Villa and his rookie team-mate starting Sunday's race well down the grid.
