As the competition intensified, so did the rain and, when Rahal made his next stop, it was to take on wets. Sadly for the 18-year old NHLR rookie, his haste to rejoin caused him to stall, and the time taken to restart the Medi Zone car was enough to cost him any hope of victory.
Rahal's stop promoted Wilson to the lead, and the Briton appeared comfortable in the changing conditions before being caught out and running wide, dropping to sixth in a trice. Pagenaud, whose move on Bourdais had been successful, then took over, and began to pull away as second-placed Jani came under pressure from both Doornbos and Bourdais, who had pitted shortly before Figge brought out his second safety car of the afternoon on lap 47.
Again, Pagenaud appeared at ease with the conditions as he maintained a decent advantage but, as the rain persisted, the Frenchman was caught out at turn 14, skating perilously close to the gravel and handing the initiative back to Doornbos with just 15 minutes remaining.
Places continued to change, with Wilson succumbing to a determined move from team-mate Tagliani around the outside of turn seven, and Power joining the list of those to pounce on Jani, the Aussie moving up to fourth. Thus when the final yellow flew - again for the hapless Figge - on lap 56, Doornbos headed Bourdais, Pagenaud, Power, Jani, Tagliani, Wilson and Rahal, with Oriol Servia, Ryan Dalziel and Katherine Legge completing the unlapped runners.
Power then made up another place at the restart, reclaiming a podium spot from his rookie team-mate, while Tagliani undid all his good work by spinning and dropping back behind Wilson and Rahal to occupy eighth.
At the front, however, things were more static, with Doornbos holding a tidy gap to Bourdais and the Frenchman doing likewise to Power. Bourdais was trying all he could to close the deficit to the leader, knowing that the fastest lap he had set when the going was good would only give him a share of the championship lead should the order remain the same.
