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06.04.2008
Kobayashi wins, Grosjean crowned!
The Dams driver claimed a second win today in the GP2 Asia Series at the Sakhir track. The French driver Romain Grosjean was declared Champion after the sprint race.
Due to an electrical problem, Bruno Senna did not take part in the race. As the lights went off, all 25 cars took off, but in the first corner, Nunes and Chandhok touched, sending the Indian driver into a spin and leaving Petrov to lead, with Grosjean in his tail after an outstanding start from 8th place. In the last corner of the first lap, the RDD driver made a strong move on the Russian and pulled away easily, managing an 8 second gap with the rest of the pack. Behind the ART Grand Prix driver, Vitaly Petrov, Kamui Kobayashi, Adrian Valles and Sébastien Buemi closely fought for the podium. While the Dams driver tried to overtake Petrov, Buemi got passed Valles who was suffering with gearbox problems. On Lap 5, Kobayashi made a bold move on Petrov and gained second place, leaving the Russian to an entertaining fight with Buemi and Qi-Meritus’ Yoshimoto. Mid-race, leader Grosjean started to have major brake problems. He lost ground and Kobayashi caught up with him rapidely and took the lead on Lap 13. Still struggling with his brakes, the Frenchman was then overtaken by the following six drivers and had to retire eventually. Towards the final stages of the race, Buemi overtook Petrov at the end of the main straight offering the GP2 Asia title to Grosjean in the process: with a 20 point lead in the championship on Petrov, three wins and a 2nd place, Romain Grosjean wins the inaugural title. Kamui Kobayashi crossed the finish line first, followed by Sébastien Buemi – who signed the fastest lap time 1:45.455. Both men were already on the podium in the Next week, the last round in Dubai will see six drivers fight for the second and third places of the Championship with Petrov, Buemi, Fauzy, Senna, Kobayashi and Valles. Kamui Kobayashi (Dams): "I scored 12 points this weekend and two podiums. It’s a great result for everyone! I’m back in the game for the second place of the championship: we are competitive and I’m more motivated than ever." Sébastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden): "We had a great weekend! This result is really good for the team. They worked so hard on the car, and it was very competitive again today. When I see the standings, second place is within my reach. We had a hard time in Dubai last January. Let’s see if we can fix this." Vitaly Petrov (Barwa International Campos Team): "The conditions of this track are ever changing, so we had to work hard on the set-up. I had a good start, but then I couldn’t hold my position. But still, third place is a good result. I know that the title is gone, but I will fight really hard for second place. See you in Dubai!" Bahrain – Race 2 1. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 2. Sébastien Buemi Trust Team Arden 3. Vitaly Petrov Barwa international Campos Team 4. Hiroki Yoshimoto Qi-Meritus Mahara 5. Harald Schlegelmilch Trident Racing 6. David Valsecchi Durango 7. Ho-Pin Tung Trident Racing 8. Yelmer Buurman Trust Team Arden 9. Stephen Jelley ART Grand Prix 10 Ben Hanley Barwa International Campos Team 11 Luca Filippi Qi-Meritus Mahara 12 Jérôme d’Ambrosio Dams 13 Jason Tahinci BCN Competicion 14 Michael Herck Fisichella Motor Sport International 15 MilosPavlovic BCN Competicion 16 Aarman Ebrahim DPR 17 Alberto Valerio Durango
Not Classified Marco Bonanomi Piquet Sports Romain Grosjean ART Grand Prix Karun Chandhok iSport International Adrian Valles Fisichella Motor Sport International Christian Bakkerud Super Nova Racing Marcello Puglisi Piquet Sports Diego Nunes DPR Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing Bruno Senna iSport International Fastest lap time: Sébastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden) – 1:45.555 on lap 19
Drivers’ Championship standings after Bahrain 1. Romain Grosjean 48 2. Vitaly Petrov 28 3. Sébastien Buemi 24 4. Fairuz Fauzy 23 5. Bruno Senna 23 6 Kamui Kobayashi 22 7. AdrianValles 19 8. Davide Valsecchi 13 9. Hiroki Yoshimoto 9 10. KarunChandhok 7 11. Andy Soucek 6 12. Jérôme d’Ambrosio 6 13. Ben Hanley 6 14 Yelmer Buurman 5 15 MilosPavlovic 5
-gp2 series photos are on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - GP2 SERIES
Author: maggy (admin2)
Last modified: Sunday, 06.04.2008 - 01:47 More reports from this category all copyright automobilsport.com.
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iSport International Karun Chandhok and DPR Diego Nunes placed their 
feature race. Vitaly Petrov completes it. Hiroki Yoshimoto, Harald Schleghelmilch and Davide Valsecchi scored the last of the points.
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