Javier Villa brought joy to his beleaguered team at the conclusion of their troubled weekend today by holding on in changable conditions for his first GP2 win, soaking up massive pressure in the late stages of race two from Luca Filippi and Giorgio Pantano.

The Spaniard started on the front row and held his nerve as the rain came, stopped, and started again while many of his more fancied rivals struggled, claiming the top spot when poleman Nicolas Lapierre ran off track midway through the race and was never headed again, despite the best efforts of the Italian pair.

The long threatened rain started 20 minutes before the race, and although it stopped again fairly quickly the conditions were far from ideal: Mike Conway, Pastor Maldonado and Andi Zuber all spun on their outlaps, with the latter having to start from the pits after coming in for some small repairs. But all of the drivers started on slicks despite the conditions as the rain had stopped, all of them hoping that a dry line would soon form.

Considering the conditions, and the events of yesterday's first race, most of the drivers started conservatively, with Lapierre leading Villa, Adrian Zaugg and Vitaly Petrov through the first corner safely. One man who made a strong start was Bruno Senna, who was able to leap up a few spots to put himself on the tail of his teammate, although a bump between the pair at the back of the track saw the South African spin off, and he was soon back in the pits for good.

The move clearly affect the Brazilian as well: two corners later he ran wide, and Filippi was there to clean up fourth position. The Italian was on a charge, and on the next lap he easily disposed of Petrov at the Adelaide hairpin to put himself on course for another podium finish, a previously unthinkable position for him after his troubles in qualifying. He was easily the fastest man on track, and was soon catching up to the pair up front.

Senna's off track excursion meant that he dropped down to ninth position, with a slow starting Lucas di Grassi and Mike Conway between him and a shot at a points finish: a very fast starting Pantano led teammate Petrov and Pastor Maldonado behind the front three.

Further back and the pace was scintillating: Zuber was trying to make the best of a bad lot by banging in fastest laps, while Michael Ammermuller was also rapid. Slightly too fast in fact, as he spun off before fighting his way back, and was soon back on pace, albeit a long, long way back.

The fight for the final points finish was red hot, and on lap six Conway's pressure on Maldonado finally paid off as he muscled his way through at the hairpin, with Senna watching and waiting behind the pair. The Briton was soon on the tail of di Grassi, and the pair were making their presence known in Petrov's mirrors all the way around the circuit.

Kazuki Nakazuki was looking inspired further back, slicing his way through as he looked for a clear piece of track to put in his usual fastest lap efforts. Every time he looked like he was on for the fastest lap he found another car, which he rapidly pased before trying again: the end result meant that, although he wasn't getting a chance at the fastest lap, he was putting himself in line for points the traditional way, by finishing towards the front.

On lap sixteen everything changed: Lapierre had made a gap back to Villa and was pushing for more, but he ran too deep at the hairpin and was soon across the gravel and into the wall. The Frenchman was clearly gutted as he got out of his car and looked back on the track he grew up on as a boy, while the marshals, many of them known to him personally, led him gently away from the scene.