Luca Filippi gave the Meritus team its first GP2 victory with a flawless performance in the Asia series feature race at Sakhir.
Meritus and Filippi had won a GP2 Asia race together on the road in the inaugural championship's Sentul event two years ago, but were later disqualified because incorrect tires had been fitted. This time Filippi held the lead from pole position, and resisted race-long pressure from series champion Davide Valsecchi.
The pair pitted on the same lap, but Meritus kept its driver ahead of Valsecchi, and Filippi was able to inch away from his rival thereafter.
Even a late safety car – caused by eighth-placed Christian Vietoris (DAMS) getting tangled up with backmarker Plamen Kralev's Trident car – could not disrupt Filippi's progress.
Charles Pic ran in third throughout for Arden. Having made a slightly earlier pit stop, the Frenchman got alongside Valsecchi as the champion rejoined following his tyre change, but was unable to make a move stick.
Alvaro Parente took fourth for Coloni, with DPR's Giacomo Ricci sweeping through into fifth when Jules Bianchi (ART) and Javier Villa (Arden) banged wheels at Turn 4 following the restart. Bianchi's teammate Sam Bird also capitalised on the incident and grabbed sixth, while Bianchi made further contact with Meritus' Alexander Rossi as he tried to regain momentum and dropped back to 10th.
Edoardo Piscopo will start from pole for DAMS tomorrow having taken eighth today – just ahead of iSport's Oliver Turvey, who recovered well after stalling at the start.