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Italy's Giorgio Pantano was handed victory in a rain-hit GP2 race one at Hockenheim following a 25-second penalty for Romain Grosjean.

The French ART Grand Prix driver crossed the line first but had his celebrations cut short when he was adjudged to have overtaken back marker Marko Asmer under a yellow flag three laps from the end.

Pantano, who finished second, inherited the win with Grosjean relegated to second place.

Grosjean was one of four drivers penalised. Mike Conway, Jerome d'Ambrosio and Vitaly Petrov all received a ten grid place penalty after they failed to slow down under yellow flag in the final stages of the race. They will start race two from the back of the grid.

Grosjean had overtaken title rival Pantano in the dying laps thanks to a late downpour, while Alvaro Parente came in a distant third.

Pantano and Grosjean proved a class apart, surging clear under blue skies on the opening lap while their rivals found themselves stuck behind Andrea Zuber after his slow start.

Rain began to fall on seven laps, prompting a host of retirements including Zuber, Sebastien Buemi and Javier Villa.

While numerous drivers came in to change to wet tyres, the leaders persisted with 'dry' rubber.

With five laps to go Pantano ran wide, allowing Grosjean to tiptoe through. However, Pantano's subsequent elevation allowed him to extend his championship lead to 19 points ahead of Bruno Senna.

Race one result:

1-Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering)

2-Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix)

3-Alvaro Parente (Super Nova Racing)

4-Bruno Senna (iSport International)

5-Lucas di Grassi (Barwa Int. Campos Team)

6-Pastor Maldonado (Piquet Sports)

7-Andy Soucek (Super Nova Racing)

8-Karun Chandhok (iSport International)

From Official Website