The Japanese driver dominated the first part of the race from pole, but lost the lead during the pitstops to Vitaly Petrov.
Kobayashi then got delayed by the Campos driver and was jumped by championship leader Roldan Rodriguez (Piquet GP).
But Kobayashi responded, driving past Rodriguez with a great move into the downhill left-hander towards the end of the lap. He then duplicated the move on Petrov next time around and drove away into the distance.
Several drivers could have finished second, and Davide Valsecchi (Durango) it was who eventually took it. He had made a great start to run second early on, but fell back after the stops.
A great late charge took him past Rodriguez for third and both then overtook the struggling Petrov.
Behind Petrov, former British F3 front-runner Sergio Perez took sixth for Campos, but only thanks to the retirement of the rapid Pastor Maldonado, who had charged forward after starting 12th.
Maldonado's ART teammate Sakon Yamamoto had started alongside Kobayashi on the front row, but made a poor start and then went off on the second lap.
His recovery charge took him initially to eighth, which would have given him pole for tomorrow's sprint race. He was then overtaken in a sensational move around the outside of Jerome d'Ambrosio, but Maldonado?s late retirement handed Yamamoto a lifeline.
He will therefore start from pole, but Kobayashi will take some beating - even starting from eighth - as he often proved a second per lap faster than the rest in race one.
Full results to follow
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