Maiden wins for Filippi and Lapierre

Italian Luca Filippi drove a conservative race to win for pole Saturday's main race in Bahrain, while series veteran Nicolas Lapierre of France took full advantage of his front row start in the sprint race prior to the Formula 1 event booking his first GP2 victory as well.

For the second time in its history, the GP2 series basted off on the hot and dusty Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir. Super Nova racer Luca Filippi produced the biggest surprise of the qualifying session by grabbing the pole. And it proved essential for his race performance, as he was safe from the wild racing in the field.

Timo Glock (iSport International) had a magnificent start, climbing from seventh on the grid to third in the first corner. The German was hungry for more, as he attacked Brazil's Xandi Negrao (Minardi Piquet Sports) for second place. The two cars touched wheels and Negrao got relegated to ninth. Things settled down before the mandatory pit stop, with Filippi leading iSport pair Timo Glock and Andreas Zuber, with rookie Bruno Senna (Arden International) fourth ahead of countryman Lucas Di Grassi (ART Grand Prix) in fifth.

After all drivers pitted, Filippi, Glock, Zuber and Senna rejoined the race in the same order. Lucas Di Grassi finally settled a three-car fight for fifth, while Borja Garcia, Michael Ammermüller and surprising Indian rookie Karun Chandhok were engaged in their own battle for the last point at stake. With 4 laps to go, Chandhok managed to overtake pre-season favorite Ammermüller for 9th, protecting Durango team-mate Garcia, who secured 8th place and the pole-position for Sunday's sprint race.

"I have no words to explain how I am feeling now. It's so big I really can't understand how happy I am. I think I will feel it more tomorrow morning. I knew we had the potential, but this is just incredible", delighted winner Luca Filippi declared.

The reverse Top 8 grid meant that Borja Garcia and Nicolas Lapierre (DAMS) started from the front row. The second start of the Bahrain race weekend was no less action-packed as Austrian Andi Zuber (who races under license of United Arab Emirates) ran into Di Grassi's car causing chaos on track. Soon afterwards, Garcia made a mistake leaving the door open for Lapierre to take the lead, while main race winner Luca Filippi swept into third following the start incident.

The safety car led the field for a couple of laps as the marshals removed the debris from the track. As the race resumed, Filippi took second from Garcia, who was experiencing brake problems. The second safety car period soon followed, due to another pile-up in midfield, involving four cars. Action resumed again with a move for second place, this time Glock overtook Filippi, shaping the conformation of the podium.

"I won the A1GP championship with DAMS before, I have a lot of confidence in them and I know they can do a good job," sprint race winner Nicolas Lapierre explained. "We have done a lot of good things together, so they trust me 100% and I trust them 100%."

Filippi leads Glock in the points table 16 to 14, with Lapierre in third (8 points). The second GP2 race meeting of the season is scheduled for May 12-13 in Barcelona, Spain.