Race 1: Takuma survives carnage

The Carlin Motorsport driver claimed the lead after a restart, caused by two separate pile-ups at Lisboa and San Francisco on the first lap of the first attempt, and kept a cool head as several of the front-runners hit trouble.

Sato finished comfortably ahead of pole position man Bjorn Wirdheim with Italian Paolo Montin third for TOM'S after two safety car periods.

The biggest casualties of the opening heat included Jonathan Cochet and Ryo Fukuda, who collided at the end of lap four. Fukuda was taken to hospital but there was no news as to his condition as the race finished.

Of the Britons, Derek Hayes was involved in the opening lap Lisboa shunt, while Mark Taylor crashed out at the end of lap eight after the first Safety Car period. Andy Priaulx finished the race but was several laps down after suffering a puncture at the restart.



Takuma Sato, Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda, 44m48.559s, 15
Bjorn Wirdheim, Dallara F301 Spiess-Opel, 44m50.049s, 15
Paolo Montin, Dallara F301 TOM's-Toyota, 44m50.928s, 15
Benoit Treluyer, Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda, 44m59.135s, 15
Kousuke Matsuura, Dallara F301 Spiess-Opel, 44m59.750s, 15
Matteo Bobbi, Dallara F301 Spiess-Opel, 45m16.512s, 15
Yuji Ide, Dallara F399 Sodemo-Renault, 45m16.816s, 15
Heikki Kovalainen, Dallara F301 Sodemo-Renault, 45m22.093s, 15
Michael Ho, Dallara F301 Spiess-Opel, 45m31.258s, 15
Peter Hackett, Dallara F300 Mugen-Honda, 45m39.358s, 15