Toccacelo, Valles, Karun Chandhok and Frederic Vervisch were the last drivers to make their compulsory stops, with Toccacelo and Valles not coming in until the 16th lap. However, it was Kubica, who had stopped very early on, who inherited the lead, leaving Toccacelo holding on to second place in front of Winkelhock, van Lagen, Zuber, Simon Pagenaud, Valles, Celso Miguez, Damien Pasini and Patrick Pilet.
Whilst the final few stoppers, including van Lagen, were in the pits, Eric Salignon suffered a high-speed impact with the tyre wall, requiring the safety car to hold the pack until lap 18 while the wreckage was removed. With the field now bunched up, the remaining five laps promised to bring a thrilling finish, with Toccacelo keen to regain top spot after losing it in the pits - something reminiscent of his
FIA F3000 season in 2004!
Not long after van Lagen had looped his car into a long spin, Toccacelo was also removed from the equation, receiving a nudge from another driver and ending his afternoon in the gravel trap. Miguez also fell by the wayside, reducing the pack even further.
Behind Kubica, now free of Toccacelo's attentions, Zuber moved up to second place after passing Winkelhock, but was already over four seconds back from the Polish driver and seemingly on course for his second second place of the day. Winkelhock continued to hold third spot - having not really lost position following Toccacelo's exit - while Felix Porteiro dropped back to fifth position, having had to give in to Tomas Kostka’s aggressive driving.
Pavlovic was forced out due to a mechanical failure, and Pastor Maldonado again ended his race in the gravel trap, but that was nothing compared to a nasty-looking accident involving Giovanni Tedeschi and Matteo Meneghello. Fortunately, neither Italian was hurt in the incident, but it was enough for the stewards to throw the red flag, bringing the race to a halt.
The untimely end left Kubica to add victory to his first race third, with Zuber and Winkelhock completing the podium.
“This rounds off what has been an excellent weekend," the winner said, "My qualifying times were average, which meant that I had precious little to lose in this race, so the team attempted a daring strategy which paid off.”
