Beijing Guoan has stormed to victory in the first ever Superleague Formula event – turning pole position into a stunning victory over AS Roma and Tottenham Hotspur. Beijing's Davide Rigon beat fellow front-row starter Borja Garcia (Sevilla FC) to turn one off the rolling start and edged out a gap over his Spanish rival.

“The race was very difficult because the safety car destroyed a bit of my advantage and it was difficult on the restart to extend the gap again,” David said. “With a lot of fuel on board, the car was very different from qualifying but I pushed very hard throughout the race. My guys told me the Roma car was closing and I had to push event more without taking too many risks. I'm delighted to take the first Superleague Formula victory for my club – it is a great start."

Back in the pack, Borussia Dortmund's Nelson Philippe and Corinthians's Andy Soucek were involved in a traffic jam with Philippe hitting the rear of Soucek. The Corinthians driver was spun around while Philippe lost his front wing.

AC Milan fans also faced disappointment when Robert Doornbos fell out of the race on the opening lap, brining out the safety car. Rigon lead from the ensuing restart and AS Roma's Enrico Toccacelo quickly moved into second place.

Tottenham Hotspur's Duncan Tappy faced initial pressure from Olympiacos driver Kasper Andersen and later faced another red car in his mirrors, this time, PSV Eindhoven's Yelmer Buurman. At the front of the pack, Rigon and Beijing continued to lead with Toccacelo and Roma trying to bridge the gap. The battle for fifth place was also hotting up with Liverpool's Adrian Valles challenging the Al-Ain car of Andreas Zuber.

Valles had started from the rear of the grid after suffering alternator problems in qualifying and eventually passed Zuber with less than a minute remaining. At the chequered flag, Beijing scored the victory by 2.577 seconds over AS Roma and Tottenham Hotspur.

For the second race this afternoon, AC Milan's Robert Doornbos will head the pack for the first Superleague Formula reverse grid event