 At the start, Kox had a drive shaft failure and several cars narrowly avoided ramming into the rear of him as Bourdais maintained his pole position advantage to lead the field into the first corner.The safety car was dispatched at the end of the first lap to remove Kox's vehicle and it remained on the circuit until the conclusion of the next lap.Bourdais held the lead and had a healthy gap over Lieb and Power in second and third.