That left Pantano enjoying a sizeable advantage over di Grassi, but hoping that the leader's jinx would not spread to the Racing Engineering entry. He need not have worried, for the final seven laps passed off without incident, di Grassi never close enough to threaten and the backmarkers polite enough not to impede his progress.
Crossing the line, it was clear what success at the 100th time of asking meant to Pantano, the Italian punching the air repeatedly as he equalled
Timo Glock's series record seventh win to move back into the lead of a championship he covets dearly, despite his years spent chasing it.
di Grassi was equally comfortable in second, with Maldonado a safe distance behind as he completed the podium. There was more competition for fourth place as Zuber harried the second Campos car of Petrov to the line, while Jerome d'Ambrosio - another to benefit from good pit strategy - Chandhok and Conway completed the scorers.
Parente's comeback terminated in ninth, one place shy of transforming the Portuguese from one end of the grid to the other as eighth proved just out of reach, while the action continued down into the pack as Yelmer Buurman defended twelfth with all the road and more under pressure from Andy Soucek and Javi Villa.
![Giorgio Pantano - Racing Engineering [pic credit: GP2 Series]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/438550.jpg)
