Lewis Hamilton has taken his second double win of the season with a crushing display of speed in race two at Silverstone, storming through the field from eighth on the grid to win by nine seconds from poleman Felix Porteiro and Adam Carroll.
The race start was delayed when Alex Premat and Timo Glock stalled on the grid, prompting an extra formation lap. Next time around there were no such problems, and Porteiro had a storming start on his first time at the sharp end to lead fellow front row driver Clivio Piccione into the first corner.
Giorgio Pantano and Nelson Piquet Jr slotted in immediately behind the front pair, while yesterday's front row pairing of Carroll and Hamilton were having a fierce battle of their own, with the latter finally coming out on top after the pair ran side by side all the way through to Hangar Straight.
Andreas Zuber was already out of the race, having been pushed into the pitwall by Jason Tahinci, while Piquet was having a storming opening lap; having been forced onto the grass at the start by Pantano, he had his revenge by muscling his way through into third before the lap was over.
The two stalling drivers were fighting their way back after the disappointing start, to vastly different effect. Glock, who had been push started to form up at the back of the grid, was storming his way through the grid while Premat, who started in the pits, was clearly struggling: he spun on lap two and was soon back in the pits and out of his car.
Back at the front Porteiro had the benefit of Piccione slowing up his pursuers, storming away in the knowledge that he would need as big a gap as possible later in the race. Piquet was all over the back of the Monegasque driver but unable to thread the needle, while Pantano was robustly defending his position behind them from a charging Hamilton.
Fairuz Fauzy had found himself in seventh after a good start, and was holding on for dear life. A long train was forming behind the Malaysian driver, with no one able to find a way through other than Glock, who took the opportunities presented to move up to eighth in five laps.
Further back and a bad race turned into a nightmare for Arden when Michael Ammermüller collected the rear of teammate Neel Jani, tipping both cars into retirement at Abbey and prompting the safety car to come out on track while the marshals retrieved the broken vehicles.
The race went green on lap eight, and Hamilton made a perfect restart by lining up precisely on Pantano's tail through Woodcote to put himself side by side across the line and through into fourth at Copse, while Glock was the first man to get by Fauzy further around the lap, at Vale, for seventh position.
At the front Porteiro did a perfect job of the restart and was rebuilding his lead, while Piccione was hanging on desperately from Piquet. The pair were soon joined by Hamilton, and they drove three wide into Maggotts, Piquet inside Piccione and Hamilton on the outside.
It was an audacious move, but there could only be one driver to come out on top, and Hamilton made sure it was him: he pushed slightly left but left enough room, just, for the others. Piccione jinked slightly left and Piquet had nowhere to go but onto the grass.
The Brazilian ran through an advertising hoarding before rejoining the track right in front of the ongoing Pantano / Carroll battle, with the Ulsterman taking the opportunity to force his way past both, with a now slow Piquet also losing a position to a charging Glock.
Within a few corners Porteiro saw what he most dreaded in his mirrors: Hamilton had arrived, and was clearly determined to take home another win. The Spaniard, however, put up a plucky defence that defied his relative inexperience at the front of a GP2 race.
Lap after lap Porteiro held his line, but on lap twelve the inevitable happened: Hamilton tried on the inside at Bridge but was held up as Porteiro moved over to the right for Brooklands, but the Briton somehow forced his way across and inside before the corner, and the lead was his.
He wasn't the only Briton with a taste for blood: Carroll was on the podium yesterday and looking for more, and his constant pressure on Piccione finally paid off one lap later when he got inside at Stowe for third place while, behind them, Glock undid all his good work by running off track and falling back to ninth.
With Hamilton moving away at a second or more a lap Porteiro had his mirrors full once again, this time by Carroll, but the Spaniard was determined not to open the door again despite the rising number of drivers behind him, all looking for a way by.
It set up a five car battle over the closing laps of the race, with all of them holding their breath and trying desperately not to put a wheel wrong and delighting the large crowd around the circuit.
Up at the front Hamilton built up a lead of over ten seconds before easing off slightly to win his second race of the weekend while the crowd strained to see what the order would be behind him.
The five crossed the line nose to tail, Porteiro holding on for second ahead of Carroll, Piccione, Pantano and Piquet, with Glock just failing to score a point despite forcing his way through Fauzy once again for seventh position.
Inevitably Hamilton also claimed another point for fastest lap, and was just 0.004 seconds in qualifying off a perfect score for the weekend. Not that he will mind so much, leading Piquet in the championship as he does by 67 points to 45.
