Sam Bird closed the gap to GP2 Series leader Fabio Leimer by winning the Singapore sprint race for the Russian Time team.

Starting on reversed-grid pole after a troubled race on Saturday, Bird made a fine start and was never challenged at the head of the field. The only aspect he failed to achieve, however, was the two extra points for fastest lap, but fortunately for him Leimer also failed in his efforts to get it.

It was Bird’s fifth win of the season, and he closes to within seven points of Leimer.

Marcus Ericsson finished second for DAMS, ahead of Leimer (Racing Engineering) and Stephane Richelmi in the second DAMS machine.

A bizarre incident then befell Leimer on the slowing down lap, when he slammed into Alexander Rossi’s Caterham car. Rossi was making the sharp-left turn off the track to enter the support-race paddock, as Leimer was cruising to complete the lap to the podium. Leimer appeared to have injured his left wrist slightly.

Jon Lancaster rose from ninth to fifth, but was mainly a beneficiary of drivers ahead of him struggling on used rubber or the super-soft option tyre, which could not last anywhere near the 20-lap race stint required. That included Saturday’s race-winner Jolyon Palmer, who finished 17th after a pit stop. It promoted unlikely points finishers Johnny Cecotto Jr., Daniel de Jong and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, who all started from well down the grid.

Results - 20 laps:Pos  Driver               Team                  Time/Gap 1.  Sam Bird             Russian Time        40m36.444s 2.  Marcus Ericsson      DAMS                   +5.787s 3.  Fabio Leimer         Racing Engineering     +7.745s 4.  Stephane Richelmi    DAMS                   +9.311s 5.  Jon Lancaster        Hilmer                +17.885s 6.  Johnny Cecotto Jr    Arden                 +34.140s 7.  Daniel de Jong       MP                    +56.282s 8.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs  Hilmer                +57.159s 9.  Rene Binder          Lazarus             +1m07.397s10.  Nathanael Berthon    Trident             +1m07.997s11.  Rio Haryanto         Addax               +1m08.302s12.  Julian Leal          Racing Engineering  +1m09.052s13.  Simon Trummer        Rapax               +1m09.248s14.  Tom Dillmann         Russian Time        +1m11.366s15.  Mitch Evans          Arden               +1m15.458s16.  Felipe Nasr          Carlin              +1m15.990s17.  Jolyon Palmer        Carlin              +1m16.415s18.  Jake Rosenzweig      Addax               +1m22.004s19.  James Calado         ART                 +1m28.898s20.  Vittorio Ghirelli    Lazarus             +1m37.714s21.  Dani Clos            MP                  +1m49.482s22.  Gianmarco Raimondo   Trident             +2m02.960s23.  Alexander Rossi      Caterham                +1 lap24.  Stefano Coletti      Rapax                   +1 lapRetirements:     Daniel Abt           ART                     9 laps     Sergio Canamasas     Caterham                2 laps