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05.04.2008
Romain Grosjean closer to the inaugural GP2 Asia title
Frenchman Romain Grosjean won in Bahrain today in front of Sébastien Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi. The ART Grand Prix driver started on pole position today, but didn’t manage to take off well and let both iSport International men take the lead - Chandhok in front of Senna. Further back in the pack, Luca Filippi and Marco Bonanomi crashed after the first corner which led to an early safety car. Most of the cars came back to the pits with the exception of Marcello Puglisi, Hiroki Yoshimoto and Milos Pavlovic. Karun Chandhok came out of the crowded pits but quickly spun in his out-lap on cold tyres. Behind the safety car, the BCN Competicion Serbian led Japanese Yoshimoto, Adrian Valles, Romain Grosjean and DPR’s Diego Nunes. When the track cleared, Grosjean made a strong move on Valles at the end of the main straight. In front, Pavlovic, much slower than the cars behind him, fought hard to keep the lead, but eventually went a little wide and let Yoshimoto, Grosjean and Valles pass. Soon after that, Grosjean overtook the Qi-Meritus Mahara driver and led comfortably to the end, with an almost 15 second gap to Trust Team Arden’s Buemi. The Swiss drove a strong race: starting 8th on the grid, he managed to come back and fight both Valles and Kobayashi to claim second. The Dams driver eventually landed third place. Bruno Senna finished fourth after he was blocked behind his teammate in the pits. He fought his way back and overtook Valles in the last stages of the race.
Today was another disappointing race for front-row starter Karun Chandhok, but he managed to work his way back to eighth. He will hence start on pole tomorrow, next to Diego Nunes. Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix): "My start was, once again, far than perfect… We had a good pit-stop and when I got back out, I was behind Valles. At the restart, I overtook him and was quickly behind Yoshimoto. Pavlovic went off line and we passed him. After I got passed Hiroki, I applied myself not to make any mistake. This is the longest race I’ve ever had… I’m one step closer to the title, but I’m mainly focusing on delivering a good performance tomorrow." Sébastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden): "I was so frustrated after the feature race in Sepang, this result is a great satisfaction. I didn’t make a good start and lost some positions, but after that, I fought back. We worked a lot on the car and I almost got fastest lap today. For tomorrow, I want to score some more points." Kamui Kobayashi (Dams): "I touched someone at the start because I got stuck between two cars. I didn’t have enough space… After that, I had some problems with the tyres, but I managed to get on the podium. This is another great result for the team and myself."
Bahrain – Race 1 1. Romain Grosjean ART Grand Prix 2. Sébastien Buemi Trust Team Arden 3. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 4. Bruno Senna iSport International 5. AdrianValles Fisichella Motor Sport International 6. Davide Valsecchi Durango 7. Diego Nunes DPR 8. KarunChandhok iSport International 9. Yelmer Buurman Trust Team Arden 10 Vitaly Petrov Barwa International Campos Team 11 Jérôme d’Ambrosio Dams 12 Hiroshi Yoshimoto Qi-Meritus Mahara 13 Aarman Ebrahim DPR 14 Harald Schleghelmilch Trident Racing 15 Michael Herck Fisichella Motor Sport International 16 Stephen Jelley ART Grand Prix 17 Jason Tahinci BCN Competicion 18 Marcello Puglisi Piquet Sports 19 Milos Pavlovic BCN Competicion
Not Classified Ho-Pin Tung Trident Racing Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing Ben Hanley Barwa International Campos Team Christian Bakkerud Super Nova Racing Marco Bonanomi Piquet Sports Luca Filippi Qi-Meritus Mahara Alberto Valerio Durango Fastest lap time: Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) – 1:45.453 on lap 9 Drivers’ Championship 1. Romain Grosjean 48 2. Vitaly Petrov 24 3. Fairuz Fauzy 23 4. Bruno Senna 23 5. AdrianValles 19 6. Sébastien Buemi 18 7. Kamui Kobayashi 16 8. Davide Valsecchi 12 9. KarunChandhok 7 10. Andy Soucek 6 11. Jérôme d’Ambrosio 6 12. Ben Hanley 6 13. Hiroki Yoshimoto 6 14 Yelmer Buurman 5 15 MilosPavlovic 5 16 Luca Filippi 4 17 Alberto Valerio 2 18 Diego Nunes 2 19 Ho-Pin Tung 1 20 Harald Schleghelmilch 1
-GP2 Series - also photos photos will be on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - GP2 Series
Author: maggy (admin2)
Last modified: Saturday, 05.04.2008 - 07:54 More reports from this category all copyright automobilsport.com.
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