Barcelona 2007: Safety first hands win to Senna.

Bruno Senna became the third first-time GP2 Series winner in as many races this season, after Arden tactics proved slightly better than iSport's in an enthralling feature race at the Circuit de Catalunya.

After the initial start was once again aborted - this time costing iSport its front row lock-out as Andy Zuber joined Jason Tahinci in stalling and registering DNS - Timo Glock made full use of his first pole position to seize control of the race. Behind him, however, further chaos was about to shape the face of the race.

The first incident occurred before the pack had even reached the first corner as Karun Chandhok, attempting to capitalise on a poor start for Nicolas Lapierre, lost his Durango car with two wheels on the main straight verge. Somehow, the pale blue machine threaded itself through the chasing pack as it backed across the road into the opposite barrier.

Xandi Negrao had the narrowest escape, but the Brazilian ran out of luck at turn one, where further pit-falls awaited the unwary. Giorgio Pantano kicked things off by going in too deep and helping Bahrain feature winner - and current points leader - Luca Filippi into the gravel trap. The second Super Nova car of Mike Conway was caught up in the ensuing melee, and left Negrao with nowhere to run when he rejoined from stage left.

The Minardi Piquet car hit its Super Nova equivalent hard enough to rear up in the air, before spearing off into the far gravel at turn two. Conway was also out on the spot, his rear wing deranged, while Antonio Pizzonia was left to limp back to the pits with heavy damage to his right rear corner, which eventually led to a puncture.

With cars abandoned left, right and centre, the stewards had no option but to deploy the safety car, and it was here that the race became a tactical battle. While the majority of the field opted to pit at the end of the second lap, the earliest opportunity allowed, Glock and five others - Adrian Zaugg, Sergio Jiminez, Trident twins Pastor Maldonado and Kohei Hirate and final starter Andy Soucek - all remained steadfastly behind the pace car, seemingly throwing away their chances of victory with every passing lap.

Maldonado and Hirate pitted next time around, but Glock continued to lead the remaining quartet until the end of the safety car period on lap five, now with the rest of the field bunched up behind them and running on fresh tyres. iSport clearly had a plan in mind, however, and, given Glock's qualifying advantage over everyone bar his team-mate, the chances of him being able to pull out enough of a gap to resume out front was entirely plausible.

True to form, the German began to pull out a serous gap right from the restart, running almost a second a lap faster than Zaugg in second, with the South African resisting all attempts from those behind. With Glock 19secs to the good after 23 laps - five of which were run at anything other than race pace - the gameplan looked good, while Zaugg's defence - and that further back from Borja Garcia - provided thrills and spills among those behind.

Lapierre was the first to crack, running wide while attempting to brave it out around the outside of Senna - who had passed him in the pits - and then losing out to Lucas di Grassi, while the Trident duo twice came close to reprising their collision in Bahrain. Christian Bakkerud indulged in a spin of his own, while Kazuki Nakajima - again in mercurial form - appeared on the main straight via the gravel trap and with a left front that seemed to be on the verge of throwing a tread.

The Japanese driver had been making good progress through the field, until he came across the obstinate Garcia. That was until the Spaniard made a mistake in the middle of the new chicane but, instead of finding clear passage, Nakajima rammed the back of the Durango car, slicing into his left front and causing his ensuing problems. While Garcia continued apparently unscathed, the DAMS car had a whole lap to limp back to the pits for repairs.

The French team's effort was wiped out completely when Lapierre's engine lunched itself, possibly as the result of his earlier off, adding the Bahrain sprint race winner to a casualty list that already included both Super Nova machines, Negrao, Pantano and Filippi, ensuring a new winner for the season's third race.

Glock finally pitted on lap 27, holding a 19.2secs advantage over Senna, who had moved into second when fellow rookie, and Arden team-mate, Zaugg spun away his slim advantage on lap 22. The South African had yet to pit at the time of the error, which came at the exit of the chicane, and ended up with him stranded across the pit entry.

Despite the best efforts of iSport's tacticians, Glock's advantage over the field was never going to be enough to ensure that he rejoined in front, but was further compromised as di Grassi eased past pit exit shortly before the German emerged. Undeterred, Glock immediately picked up from where he had left off, lapping in the low 1min 31s while di Grassi was in the 1min 33s. The key player, however, was Senna, and the Brazilian newcomer was on a par with the iSport machine.

"We had the speed to win, but Bruno made the right choice for the race - and us for the championship," Glock said, trying to hide his disappointment.

While he hunted down the two ahead of him, attention was being diverted by a spirited scrap for the final points positions - the all-important pole for Sunday's sprint. Owing to the fallen around him, Vitaly Petrov headed a group battling over sixth, some way behind Garcia, but comprising fellow Russian Mikhail Aleshin, Sakon Yamamoto and, eventually, both Racing Engineering cars.

Petrov was clearly slower than those in his wake, and with a car that became increasingly wayward. However, his defensive efforts provoked some feverish dicing, with feints and near misses aplenty. While Aleshin looked this way and that for a way through, Javier Villa was left to fend off Yamamoto and team-mate Jiminez who, Glock aside, was the best placed of the late stoppers.

Once past the Campos car, Aleshin immediately began lapping 3-4secs faster than Petrov, cementing sixth place on his GP2 debut as replacement for Michael Ammermuller. Petrov continued to be an obstacle for little longer, before Jiminez's determined lap 34 pass - which saw him forced to take to the pit exit lane - allowed both Villa and Yamamoto to follow him through. The luckless Russian thus found himself out of the points for Spanish-based Campos, while home favourite Racing Engineering went about wrapping up the front row for race two.

Back at the front, Glock had caught and passed di Grassi, leaving himself six laps to close on Senna. His attacking drive did not diminish in the closing stages, but the German was chasing a lost cause unless nerves got to the leader. Lapping on roughly the same pace, the gap did not close that much over the remaining laps, leaving Senna to take the flag - and his first GP2 win in only his third outing - by a shade over five seconds.

"It was a great gamble!" Senna enthused, "I was worried stopping early was the right thing to do, but the team made the right call and did a great job. The car was strong all race, but I honestly didn't expect this start to 2007."

Glock was left to settle for a third straight runners-up finish, after a brace in Bahrain, while di Grassi completed the podium after a race in which he appeared to flatter the performance capability of his ART Grand Prix machine.

"I'm pretty satisfied with a podium," the Brazilian insisted, "We lost some places in the pits, but the team made the right call."

Roldan Rodriguez, feisty in the opening stages, claimed fourth place after being left in no-man's land for much of the race, but could have completed the podium had the race run a couple of laps more. Garcia duly took more points in fifth, with Aleshin, Jiminez and Villa rounding out the scorers in one of Barcelona's more entertaining support races.