Carroll edges Ireland closer to title

Not only did he take an impressive victory, over seven seconds ahead of India's Narain Karthikeyan, but Carroll's title rivals struggled. Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque finished fifth, with Switzerland's Neel Jani toiling to score just one point in eighth.

It means Carroll takes an eight-point lead over Jani into this afternoon's final feature race, while Albuquerque has closed to within three points of second.

Carroll made a good start, but Duran made an even better one and braved it out around the outside of Paddock Hill Bend. Behind them it was chaos, as Netherlands' Jeroen Bleekemolen made a terrible start from third and Albuquerque looked to have grabbed the place, until he was punted wide by USA's JR Hildebrand, who beat him to it.

Karthikeyan was fifth, ahead of Bleekemolen, New Zealand's Earl Bamber and Jani. The latter's title hopes took a dive when he ran wide at Paddock on lap three, allowing Australia's John Martin past him.

Carroll kept Duran in his sights until the mandatory pitstops when his Status-run squad gave him the perfect stop. In contrast, Mexico's effort was distinctly leisurely and a sticking left-front wheelnut delayed Duran, so he not only lost the lead but also second place to Karthikeyan, who had pitted a lap earlier.

Carroll held a three-second lead, which he extended to over seven by the finish.

"The guys did a fantastic job and the car was really good," he said. His only fright came at Graham Hill Bend on lap 12, when he ran wide onto the grass.

"I ran a little bit wide but it was only a small moment. You can never rest around this track and I made sure I brought it home after that."

Karthikeyan held on to second, well clear of Duran, who came under attack from Hildebrand in the latter stages. "We did a really good job early on, but the pitstop wasn't the best," said Duran.

Albuquerque finished fifth, ahead of Bleekemolen, who did well to soldier on despite a flat-sounding engine. Martin was seventh, well clear of a disappointed Jani, who finished 22s behind his target Carroll in eighth.

Pos Driver                Team                   Time
 1. Adam Carroll          Ireland          22m32.704s
 2. Narain Karthikeyan    India                +7.230
 3. Salvador Duran        Mexico              +12.340
 4. JR Hildebrand         USA                 +12.689
 5. Filipe Albuquerque    Portugal            +13.018
 6. Jeroen Bleekemolen    Netherlands         +13.783
 7. John Martin           Australia           +15.208
 8. Neel Jani             Switzerland         +22.220
 9. Nicolas Prost         France              +22.945
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi     Italy               +27.062
11. Michael Ammermuller   Germany             +31.947
12. Satrio Hermanto       Indonesia           +33.159
13. Dan Clarke            Great Britain       +33.541
14. Franky Cheng          China               +34.963
15. Alan van der Merwe    South Africa        +40.488
16. Aaron Lim             Malaysia            +41.528

Retirements

 Daniel Morad             Lebanon             13 laps
 Earl Bamber              New Zealand         13 laps
 Clivio Piccione          Monaco               8 laps
 Felipe Guimaraes         Brazil               0 laps


Fastest lap, Carroll 1m12.276s