The Safety Car led the pack away amid soggy conditions, after some 25mm of rain fell over the course of the morning in the lead up to lights out.
After four laps, the field formed for a standing start and Rowland headed Mortara through the Turn 1 and 2 chicane, while Barnard aimed to get his car’s nose up the inside of the Mahindra through the opening left-hander.
A few drivers – the highest-placed of which being Sebastien Buemi – jumped for the first of their mandatory 50kW four-wheel drive Attack Mode boosts.
Even with 4WD, the Envision still looked a handful – the Swiss narrowly keeping his car out of the wall before dispatching Barnard for third at Turn 1 on Lap 7.
Of the leaders, Mortara and Barnard went next in Attack – the Mahindra driver taking full advantage to pinch P2 back from Buemi but finding himself three seconds shy of leader Rowland when his initial 50kW boost ended.
On Lap 10, Rowland found himself up on energy and three second clear out-front ahead of Mortara, Buemi, Barnard and de Vries rounding out the top 5.
Lap 13, saw Guenther’s car go red and grind to a halt, demanding a Red Flag so it could be cleared safely.
The pack were led round by the Safety Car to a standing start on Lap 15, with Rowland firing off the line once again to lead the pack through Turn 1 – flying to a two-second advantage once again.
Of the lead few, Barnard was first to move for PIT BOOST on Lap 18, with Vandoorne having gone first, pre-Red Flag – a god send for the Belgian, with the time lost during that stop immediately wiped out with the enforced restart.
As the stops began to shake out, Barnard managed to jump Mortara while Vandoorne did indeed hit what would be the front ahead of Rowland, Barnard, Mortara and Buemi.
At Turn 2 on Lap 28, Vandoorne ran wide before lighting the rear tyres up into a spin.
With a 25 second lead over Rowland, though, it ultimately wouldn’t matter.
From there, it was a waltz to the flag for the Maserati MSG Racing driver, with the scrap in-behind the Belgian.
The full top 10 are- P1: Vandoorne, P2: Rowland, P3: Barnard, P4: Buemi, P5: Ticktum, P6: Mortara, P7: da Costa, P8: Vergne, P9: Frijns and P10: Cassidy.
Jordan's Track Talk 
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