Kobayashi wins in Dubai

The Dams team racer had looked impressive in qualifying, earning pole position by almost two-tenths of a second from ART Grand Prix's Sakon Yamamoto. But while Yamamoto was overtaken by a charging Davide Valsecchi at the start Kobayashi made the most of starting from the front, pulling away well and holding onto the lead comfortably for almost the entire race.

A late pitstop almost undid the Japanese driver's race when it put him behind a flying Vitaly Petrov, and when Roldan Rodriguez went past him soon after it looked as if his race was all but over.

But Kobayashi found his pace once more, and in a matter of two laps retook the lead through sensational moves on both Rodriguez and Petrov. He extended his lead to a comfortable 14 seconds by the end, earning his first victory of the season.

Behind Kobayashi the fight for the second place was fierce, and though Durango's Davide Valsecchi did well to blitz his way from fifth to second at the start he lost places after his pit stop to drop back to fifth. But he had not lost his pace, and a late run through the field earned him second spot ahead of Rodriguez.

Russian driver Petrov stuggled towards the end on deteriorating tyres, dropping down to fifth place just behind Giedo Van der Garde of the iSport team, and just ahead of his Campos team-mate Sergio Perez.

Kobayashi's win earned him 10 championship points, which together with his bonus points for the fastest laptime and pole position gives him a three point lead in the drivers' championship on 22 points, three ahead of Rodriguez. Davide Valsecchi is third with 15 points.

* Due to overnight storms, Saturday's Sprint Race was cancelled.