Coletti retook the lead after all drivers made their pit stops but he lost the position to Leimer on lap 25 because of tyre degradation.

Stéphane Richelmi began the sprint race from pole position but he lost the lead to Coletti at the second corner on the first lap.

[6][7] 2012 GP3 Series champion Mitch Evans of Arden International was the best-placed rookie in fourth and Marcus Ericsson in the faster of the two DAMS cars was fifth.

[8] The rest of the top ten were Felipe Nasr, Johnny Cecotto Jr., Stefano Coletti, Rio Haryanto and Stéphane Richelmi.

[6] While the session passed relatively peacefully, Julián Leal went into a gravel trap at turn four and Kevin Ceccon had to drive onto the run-off area to avoid hitting Sergio Canamasas.

[9] Sam Bird, in his first GP2 Series qualifying session since the 2011 season,[10] was the early pace setter and held pole position until Nasr went faster.

[11] He was joined on the grid's front row by Calado who was prevented from taking pole position because of a minor mistake late on his lap.

[12] Behind him the rest of the provisional field was Canamasas, Ericsson, Johnny Cecotto Jr., Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, Richelmi, Conor Daly, the Trident duo of Nathanaël Berthon, Ceccon, Ma Qinghua, Daniël de Jong, Daniel Abt, Jolyon Palmer, Jake Rosenzweig, Pål Varhaug and Kevin Giovesi.

[12] After qualifying, Berthon and Canamasas physically remonstrated about on-track etiquette as they waited in the weighbridge area for undisclosed reasons.

[14][15][16] Notes The first race was held over 170 km (110 mi) or 60 minutes (which ever came first) and all drivers were required by regulations to make one pit stop.

[20][21] Evans, ill with food poisoning,[22] took over fourth as an overtake from Calado on Nasr at turn four put both drivers wide.

[19][23][24] Once a rhythm was established, it became apparent that tyre wear would become a factor as Leimer put race leader Coletti under heavy pressure but he withstood all of his challenges,[24][25] giving Calado, Nasr and Evans, who were duelling over third, the opportunity to draw closer.

[19][23] In the meantime, Abt triggered localised yellow flags on lap ten when he spun off the track and marshals were required to move his car.

[19][23] The yet-to-pit Bird became the new leader when Leimer made his pit stop but his opportunity of claiming a strong result was diminished when he received a drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellow flag conditions.

[19][23][24] Further down the order, Haryanto hit Varhaug while battling for position and Dillmann swerved to avoid getting involved in the duel.

[21] Leimer crossed the start/finish line at the end of lap 30 to achieve his third victory in the GP2 Series and his first since the 2011 Catalunya sprint race.

The final classified finishers were Binder, Cecotto, Daly, Dillmann, Varhaug, Giovesi, Ceccon, Rosenzweig, Canamasas, Haryanto and Ma.

[17][28] Ma was ruled unfit to compete after the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile medical doctor diagnosed him with gastroenteritis which led to extreme dehydration.

[30] As a result, Nasr used the vacant spot left by his teammate Palmer to pass the slow-starting Bird and Leal on the inside line going into the first turn.

However it was the sixth-placed Coletti who took the lead away from Richelmi because he made a strong getaway and steered onto the outside to pass him leaving the second corner.

[31] Going into the braking zone for turn four, Calado got caught out by Leimer and mistimed an pass on him and hit the right-rear corner of his car.

[33] This rendered Calado unable to steer and had limited braking capabilities since he could not control his vehicle which launched over the grass on the inside.

Coletti, Nasr and Richelmi pulled out a one-second lead over Evans in fourth place with Cecotto in fifth and sixth-placed Leimer who continued to circulate the track despite the first lap contact with Calado.

[32] With the lead now stabilised, attention focused on Palmer further down the order as he moved his way through the field and got to 14th midway through the race while Ericsson gained two places to be in 16th.

[30] The final classified finishers were Giovesi, Dillmann, Leimer, Ericsson, de Jong, Canamasas, Abt, Quaife-Hobbs, Haryanto, Varhaug, Rosenzweig, Berthon and Ceccon.

Notes: The top three drivers in both races appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and in separate press conferences.

"[39] Nasr said he was happy to finish second and revealed that was his goal for the sprint race before discussing his duel with Coletti, "What I could see from the car was that Stefano built a gap and was safe from there.

"[39] Third-placed Evans said his team adjusted his car to improve its balance for the sprint race and stated he did not try to get second because of the high level of tyre wear, "I was hoping maybe Felipe would have caught Stefano and maybe made contact with him but that did not happen (Laughs).