Hanley was having no such problems though, the Brit pitting on lap 12 and emerging back in second place just behind Valsecchi, who was making a lengthy first stint work in his favour. So much so that when the Italian driver did make his pit stop, it brought him out back ahead of Piccione in second place.
And so the order at the front remained, Hanley simply piling the seconds onto his lead to eventually cross the line a dominant 18secs up the road. The result also marks the first win of the season for Prema Powerteam.
"The team did a brilliant job adapting the setup to the track conditions,” he beamed. “I got off to a good start and I stayed focused so as not to make any mistakes. I took it steady on the last few laps.”
Epsilon Euskadi's Valsecchi did a tremendous job to hold onto second place, despite intense pressure from Piccione, the Monegasque driver ruining his chances of making it up to second place when he spun towards the end of the race. Luckily for him, the huge gap back to Pavlovic in fourth allowed him to rejoin in third and as a result claim his first ever World Series podium.
Pavlovic was a quiet fourth, comfortably ahead of van der Garde, the Dutchman putting in another consistent points finish after holding off the advances of Parente in the closing stages.
Carlos Iaconelli and Miguel Molina ensured a double points haul for Pons Racing in seventh and eighth, while the second race will see an all-French front row on home soil after Julien Jousse and Guillaume Moreau snatched the final points paying positions in ninth and tenth.
![Davide Valsecchi - Epsilon Euskadi [pic credit: Renault Sport Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/299362.jpg)
