They included Petrov, who flew off the line, surging up from the fourth row to enter the first corner in third place, slotting in behind pole sitter
Kazuki Nakajima and Roldan Rodriguez, the Brazilian showing impressive pace around the circuit on which he made his name whilst racing in Spanish Formula 3.
However, the Minardi Piquet Sports driver's charge was a false one when he took the lead of the race by the end of the first lap by finding a shortcut. Although it was the first time he has led outright all season, the novelty did not last long when he spun terminally just as a drive-through penalty was handed out.
Petrov was pushing though and, aided by a rather stubborn lapped driver Mikhail Aleshin who blocked Nakajima for much of the sixth lap, got the run on the Japanese driver and took the lead.
Indeed, Nakajima was beginning to struggle with overheating slick tyres, the DAMS driver working hard to keep Pantano in the second Campos car at bay but eventually succeeding the position to the Italian driver. The DAMS driver quickly came under pressure from countryman Kohei Hirate, but a wet kerb caught the Trident Racing driver out and sent him into retirement.
Circulating comfortably at the head of the field, Petrov took the conservative decision to pit for new slick tyres later than most of those willing to take a risk and came out back in the lead, holding a comfortable margin back to Pantano who was not quite able to make his extra laps on better rubber count.
Unusually, given his consistent form over the season, di Grassi has chosen a bad time to endure a disappointing race, the Brazilian shuffled into the mid-field and comfortably away from the top eight in the first few laps. As such, ART Grand Prix pulled a risky move in an attempt to get him back into play by switching to slick tyres on a still slippery surface on lap six.
![Vitaly Petrov - Campos Grand Prix [pic credit: GP2 Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/382639.jpg)
