Video by Simon Adebisi. 

This year the season kicked off in the deserts of Sakhir on the Bahrain International Circuit. Fifty seven laps of the 5.412km Hermann Tilke designed course, and after weeks of pre season testing everybody was keen to see exactly which drivers had done a better job of adapting to this years physics.

Summing up the Qualifying session, Bono Huis took pole position, continuing on his top form from the one-off FSR winter race at Monterrey. Joining him on the front row in second position was newcomer to FSR, Ronny Hähnel. Twister-Racing driver Malezic took third position with Rasmus Tali in fourth. David Greco put his GhostSpeed car on the third row just ahead of three time world champion driver Bruno Marques in 6th.

Other drivers of note included Sergio Casalins starting in 9th place for the brand new Racing Factory team, Patrick de Wit who started further behind than most would have expected in 12th, and Lee Morris who only managed to post the 15th fastest time.

Roaldo Racing had a miserable start to the season, having to make last minute replacements in both seats filling up the back row.

Off the starting line it was a clean run down to the first corner, with little change to the top ten. Bono Huis easily made it to turn 1 in first position, and there was little change in the top 10 standings. The biggest loser was Marques who was overcautious in his braking for the first corner and dropped 5 positions. It was pretty clean driving from the field with everyone making it through with little contact.

While the front runners continued in a very well behaved fashion into turn 3 it didn't take long for the sparks to fly further behind with Dominguez tripping over the front of Eley's wing into turn 2 and rolling his Roaldo Racing car.

As Huis held his lead over Hähnel, the cars carefully made their way through into sector 2. Canapino's lag was no doubt causing some problems in the mid field, but it was Morris who would make the next mistake, braking very late in an over ambitious attempt to pass de Wit. He slammed into the side of Poniatowski who was lucky to be able to drive away. Morris retired on the spot.

With the long main straight leading into the best overtaking opportunity, there was plenty of slipstreaming running throughout the field. Marques managed to make the most impressive move, passing both Mikkonen and Puumalainen in one spectacular pass.

While the front runners Huis, Hähnel, Tali and Malezic were running away with the race, it was the duel between Puumalainen and de Wit that had the spectators on the edge of their seats. The battle for 9th position had both drivers swapping positions displaying some very clean racing. It wasn't long before Poniatowski became involved in the duo, and de Wit found himself surrounded by SB Motorsports cars. At one point all three cars entered into turn 1 together, and again with very clean driving on display all cars made it through. Despite suffering a big hit earlier from Morris, there appeared to be little wrong with Poniatowski's car.

Further up ahead Marques was busy making up for his poor start off the line, first passing Casalins, then Greco, and then Hellsten.

With Racing Factory's dream of scoring points in their debut resting on his shoulders, Casalins had now fallen back into a fight with Mikkonen. The pair swapped places several times, always making their move into turn 1. However on lap 12, both drivers missed their braking points into the tight first corner and it was only a slight contact that left Mikkonen being stranded stationary on the outside of the track. While Casalins drove away with a free track both in front and behind, Mikkonen was immediately passed by the three way fight of de Wit and the two SB Motorsport cars.

Mikkonen's day soon got worse. Chasing down Poniatowski and Puumalainen he locked up badly braking into the final corner, sliding right into Poniatowski. Mikkonen's car was clearly damaged, but it was Poniatowski who came off second best, losing his front wing and having to pit immediately. Mikkonen would retire 2 laps later.

Greco was not having the best of days either despite gaining a place on the start, he quickly lost 2 positions putting him back into 7th, and was losing nearly a second per lap on the race leader.

At the back of the field there was plenty of action, with van der Geest saying hello to the amco and goodbye to his front wing, and Grzywacz trying to drive over the top of Keithley.

Meanwhile the battle between Puumalainen and de Wit continued. De Wit was unable to increase the gap back to Puumalainen and soon the cars where back together again, this time with Puumalainen taking the lead as the race approached the midway point.

Huis was kept very honest by Hähnel who remained less than a second behind during the entire first stint. Huis avoided making any mistakes and was the first of the two to pit. While his pitstop was problem-free, he left pitlane only to be put in the middle of the three way battle for 9th. Desperate to avoid being held up, Huis made short work of Puumalainen when the Finn made a small mistake into turn 11. The two drivers then ran side by side through the following high speed right hander, with Huis ultimately beating Puumalainen to the breaking zone. Huis was then granted a free track when Casalins pitted later on the same lap. Despite Hähnel leaving the pits and emerging in relatively clean air, Huis had somehow managed to add a further 4 seconds to his lead.

There was no rest for the continuing battle between de Wit and Puumalainen, with the pair back to fighting as soon as the pitstops were over. While de Wit initially managed to take back his position from Puumalainen, his Faster Than Speed car could not hold off the inevitable, and Puumalainen was soon back in front of the Dutchman.

Possibly by pitting too early, Casalins now found himself back in 10th position, having been leap frogged twice during the first and only round of pitstops. On the other hand Marques would later admit that he made the mistake of pitting too late. As a result he lost out to Hellsten in the pit stops and dropped back down into 6th, losing his chance to catch to Tali in 4th.

Back at the front, and as Huis gradually pulled away, the 2nd placed Hähnel had to start worrying more about what was in his mirrors. Malezic's Twister machine had made a late stop and was on considerably fresher tires. By lap 41, Malezic was all over the rear wing of Hähnel. Waiting for just the right time to make his move, Malezic suddenly made a very brave pass into turn 8, catching Hähnel by surprise and moving into 2nd place. With the tables turned, Malezic would now have to defend his position from constant attacks by Hähnel who was not ready to give up the fight. Trading places with him on at least two occasions, it was a brilliant display of ability from both drivers, with some very close side-by-side racing.

It would ultimately go wrong for Hähnel, spinning out after attempting to pass, and then stalling his engine. A frustrating end to a great drive which fell just a mere 3 laps short of the checkered flag and a sure podium position.

Meanwhile Greco seemed to find a little bit more pace in his second stint, doing a better job of handling the lighter fuel load than Hellsten who had passed him earlier in the race. He hunted down and passed Hellsten into turn 1, and successfully defended it into turn 3 before establishing a gap back to the TMo car.

Things would go from bad to worse for Hellsten. After losing his place to Greco, he was now being chased down by a very determined Puumalainen. At the start of the second last lap, Puumalainen was close enough to try and pass. Hellsten barley managed to maintain his position through sector 1, but somehow managed to fend off Puumalainen. However he made a mistake when he took the defensive line into turn 11, and watched hopelessly as Puumalainen drove around and passed him on the outside. With too much downforce and not enough straight line speed, there was no catching Puumalainen back down the main straight.

With a lead of over 10seconds, Bono Huis crossed the finish line taking the first win of the 2010 season and setting the fastest lap at the same time. He essentially lead the grand prix from start to finish, only losing 1st place during the round of pitstops.

Domagoj Malezic brought his Twister-Racing car home for second, and rounding up the podium was Rasmus Tali, who despite having a seemingly uneventful race, came under a lot of pressure from Marques towards the end of the race.

Bruno Marques finished in 4th after managing to chase down and pass Hellsten for the second time during the race, David Greco held on for 5th and Puumalainen finished an impressive 6th.

Then it was Hellsten, de Wit, Casalins, Disley, Keersmaekers, Poniatowski who finished 12th despite being hit hard twice by other drivers, then Eley, van der Geest, and Ben Phillips rounding up the last of the finishers. Hähnel stalled with 3 laps to go while Keithley had an engine blow out 34 laps in. Canapino suffered a connection loss and Mikkonen, Morris and Dominguez all retired. Grzywacz was later disqualified for failing to send in his race log files post race.

So Bono Huis takes the full 25 points, a perfect start to the season. Malezic receives 18 points, Tali 15. Marques will happily take 12 points, but as one of the favorites to take the championship, he already has a 13 point deficit to first place.

Despite not taking the win, Twister Racing will lead the constructors leading into round 02 with an impressive haul of 30 points. Precision are not far behind with 25, and Leoncavallo, a branch of Precision Motorsports, running third with 15 points.