Vitaly Petrov combined his vast experience and skills in Sepang well to come up win the win in the sprint race.

Navigating through a wet and slippery circuit, the Russian driver stay composed as he made no mistakes to seal the victory and rise to third in the driver's championship.

It started to pour just before the formation lap and the race was delayed for half an hour. The green light to start was later given behind the safety car but it wasn't until four laps in that the competition was officially flagged off.

Davide Valsecchi, who won pole for the race, had a torrid time trying to defend his lead position from Pastor Maldonado who overtook the Italian drive at Turn 2 on Lap 5. Petrov also eventually passed the Italian five laps later on the last turn.

The Vyborg Rocket later maintained his lead on the quickly drying track and never gave up pole position until the chequered flag.

Maldonado successfully preserved his tyres from wearing out as he edged out Valsecchi for second place, with the Durago driver having to settle for third spot.

Feature race winner Diego Nunes finished the sprint event in fourth and collected another three points, while rookie Hamad Al Fardan earned his first GP2 points by finishing fifth.

Championship leader Kamui Kobayashi started from seventh on the grid and a poor start saw him drop to eleventh. The Japanese ace then put his shoulder to the grind as he placed sixth on the last lap thanks to great overtaking manoeuvres.

However, there was one man who was decided not to let his race weekend go without him scoring at least one point: and that man was Sergio Perez.

The Campos Grand Prix driver recovered from 22nd and fought his way back up the field. At the very last corner of the very last lap, the youngest man of the GP2 Asia Series passed Kobayashi and stole the last point available.

In the end, Kobayashi still remains thirteen points ahead of Davide Valsecchi. Sepang feature race winner Petrov now stands third.