Giedo van der Garde finished second for Barwa Addax Team and Lotus ART racer Jules Bianchi was third.

Grosjean won pole position for the feature race by setting the fastest lap in qualifying and maintained the lead at the start.

Following the cancellation of the two scheduled Bahrain rounds for February and March 2011 at the request of the Bahrain Motorsport Federation because of civil unrest in the country,[1] the GP2 Asia Series sought an alternative venue to host its next round with a stand-alone venue in Europe and the Losail International Circuit in Qatar mooted as possible replacements.

[3] GP2 Series CEO Bruno Michel said that while he was aware the Italian event was "quite peculiar", the track's resurfaced layout and improved facilities made Imola ideal to hold the series' final event: "It was important for everyone to have one last round, and with the tests in Europe starting soon and the logistical requirements, we had to find a European venue.

[9] The event was the first GP2 Series round to be held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari since 2006 so race officials added an additional practice session after the usual half an hour worth of running to enable teams and drivers to familiarise themselves with the circuit.

Fabio Leimer, Jolyon Palmer, Esteban Gutiérrez, Andrea Caldarelli, Valsecchi, Stefano Coletti, Julián Leal and Michael Herck were in positions three through ten.

[14] Van der Garde in fifth led a close group of runners consisting of Král securing sixth place and Ericsson in seventh.

[17] Luiz Razia was the fastest driver not to qualify in the top ten and the rest of the field lined up as Caldarelli, Leimer, Oliver Turvey, Gutiérrez, Coletti, Rodolfo González, Chilton, Varhaug and Clos,[14] Fairuz Fauzy, Johnny Cecotto Jr., Charles Pic, Leal, Berthon,[15] and Filippi who was unable to set a timed lap because of a driveshaft problem affecting his car and was forced to start at the back of the field.

[21][22] Bird was expected to be Grosjean's primary rival during the weekend but a slow start from him bunched up the field, causing Razia to run onto some grass.

[21][23] Bianchi had wheelspin leaving his grid slot and fell to fifth, separated by the Arden cars of Palmer and Král with whom he duelled for position.

[23][25] Palmer damaged his front wing entering Rivazza corner and Bianchi passed Král at the end of lap six when the latter picked up a front-right puncture forcing him to make his mandatory pit stop earlier than scheduled.

[23][25] Grosjean retained first place after the mandatory pit stops to change tyres with van der Garde second and Bianchi overtook Herck for third.

[23] At the front, Grosjean increased his lead over van der Garde to 14.349 seconds and crossed the start/finish line after 35 scheduled laps to achieve his first victory of the season and his first in the GP2 Series since the 2009 Monaco round.

Fauzy took eighth and the sprint race pole position after Valsecchi was disqualified due to his car failing a ride height test in post-race scrutineering.

[22][27] The final classified finishers were González, Ericsson, Gutiérrez, Král, Varhaug, Turvey, Cecotto, Leal, Caldarelli, Palmer, Aleshin, Pic, Chilton and Filippi.

[29] Fauzy lost some ground and locked his tyres going into Variante Tamburello corner and caused a chain-reaction accident when he ran into the rear of Coletti's vehicle.

[31][32][33] The top four at this point were Clos, Leimer, van der Garde and Grosjean, who settled themselves into a rhythm and pulled away from the rest of the field.

[28] González struggled to keep heat in his rear tyres and his race ended early when his car developed a gearbox fault on lap 15.

[32] After the race, Grosjean was penalised 20 seconds because the stewards deemed him to have gained an advantage by running off the track at the Variante Alta chicane and Cecotto was handed the same penalty for the incident with Bird.

[35] Following the application of penalties, the final classified finishers were Varhaug, Grosjean, Turvey, Král, Filippi, Pic, Caldarelli, Berthon, Razia, Chilton, Ericsson, Valsecchi, Leal, Cecotto and Aleshin.

"[36] Van der Garde stated his belief his team found a solution to the poor starts he had in Abu Dhabi and that his pace was the same as Grosjean's, "We tried to be constant and I think in the end we are in a good place.

"[36] Bianchi had mixed feelings because he was happy to finished third but was disappointed with his slow start, "I think it was not possible to win today because Romain was really quick, but we’ve improved our pace a lot compared to yesterday so we did a good job.

"[37] Third-placed Van der Garde commented he struggled on the downhill section of the back straight due to a lack of outright pace but stated his satisfaction on returning to the podium, "It is nice of course to be in the Top three in the championship.

"[39] The general manager of DAMS Loïc David called the championship title "a great reward" and congratulated the team's achievement, "The dice fell in our favour in the second race, but on Saturday we'd already done was necessary to be in the best possible position.