Pastor Maldonado won a shortened reversed-grid GP2 race in Monaco today following a spectacular crash involving championship leader Romain Grosjean.
The race was red-flagged two laps before full distance due to the damage sustained by the barriers at Tabac in the accident, which was triggered when the Frenchman attempted a move on Andi Zuber. But he only succeeded in tripping over the FMSI car's rear wheel, launching him skyward and onto the top of the wall.
DAMS driver Jerome D'Ambrosio was second ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, the ART rookie picking up the first GP2 main series podium of his career.
While Maldonado took the final honors, the majority of the race was actually led by Ocean's Karun Chandhok, but the Indian's afternoon came to an end when he pulled off the circuit with a suspected broken driveshaft.
The misfortunes of both the race leader and the points leader were the only real noteworthy moments in an otherwise processional race, although Racing Engineering's Lucas di Grassi will be relieved to have got some points on the board for fourth place after a difficult start to the season.
Zuber held on for fifth, with Grosjean's Barwa Addax team-mate Vitaly Petrov rounding out the top six.
RESULTS:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Maldonado ART Grand Prix 39:02.772
2. D'Ambrosio DAMS + 1.505
3. Hulkenberg ART Grand Prix + 3.545
4. Di Grassi Fat Burner Racing + 4.480
5. Zuber FMSI + 6.494
6. Petrov Barwa Addax Team + 9.349
7. Rigon Trident Racing + 10.448
8. Villa Super Nova Racing + 53.234
9. Perez Telmex Arden International + 56.237
10. Razia FMSI + 57.770
11. Van Der Garde iSport International + 58.582
12. Kobayashi DAMS + 59.696
13. Mortara Telmex Arden International + 63.710
14. Nunes iSport International + 64.840
15. Panciatici Durango + 67.681
16. Herck DPR + 1 lap
17. Grosjean Barwa Addax Team + 2 laps
18. Valsecchi Durango + 2 laps
Retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Clos Fat Burner Racing Engineering 23
Valerio Piquet GP 23
Filippi Super Nova Racing 23
Chandhok Ocean Racing Technology 21
Ricci DPR 18
Parente Ocean Racing Technology 15
Rodriguez Piquet GP 2
Fastest lap: Petrov, 1:22.045 on lap 9