From GP2 Series

The first race at Valencia's new street circuit threw up a major surprise finish when race leader Giorgio Pantano ran out of fuel almost within sight of the chequered flag, handing the win to a stunned Vitaly Petrov, who finished just ahead of Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean, with title challenger Bruno Senna failing to take advantage of his rival's misfortune as he coasted across the line in ninth with an equally empty tank.

The Italian had the race in the palm of his hand, leading every lap apart from one after his pit stop after making a storming start and setting a string of fastest laps to pull away from the Russian, who was one of the few drivers who could just about match Pantano on pace.

The last lap dramas meant heartbreak for the Racing Engineering team, who had already climbed the pit wall to cheer their man home before releasing that something had gone horribly wrong.

On the final lap, with temperatures soaring after the initial splash of rain on the first lap a number of drivers ran out of fuel, including both of the championship leaders.

The result was Petrov was the first man to greet the chequered flag, just 0.8 seconds ahead of Maldonado who himself was 4 seconds ahead of Grosjean, while Lucas di Grassi took advantage of the misfortune of others to move up to fourth place after he had slipped past D'Ambrosio a few laps earlier.

Buemi finished sixth, with Andy Soucek and Luca Filippi right behind him to mop up the points, while Senna at least crossed the line, albeit in ninth and just outside of the points.

To rub salt into the wound Pantano lost the point for fastest lap after failing to finish in the top ten, handing it instead to Maldonado.

All of which means that the championship fight continues with Pantano on 67 points to 58 for Senna, with di Grassi moving up to 44 and Grosjean to 42 points, while Buemi and Maldonado also increase their totals to 37 and 35 respectively.

And while Petrov was delighted to take the top step of the podium it was clear that he spared a thought for his former teammate and good friend Pantano, who had to watch the celebrations from below with his team rather than spraying the champagne from above them.