The ART Grand Prix ace scored another victory after a pit-stop mix-up for Bruno Senna. The battle for 2nd and 3rd place of the championship is now focused on Petrov and Buemi .
Bruno Senna had been dominant from the first lap, when the Brazilian from iSport who started from the front row made a great move on then leader Grosjean after the latter made a mistake in the first hairpin.
Senna easily pulled away while the newly crowned champion was overtaken by the two Trust Team Arden cars, Buurman ahead of Buemi who had just made a terrific start. The fight between the three men intensified with the Swiss overtaking his teammate and Grosjean passing the Dutch as well. Meanwhile, Vitaly Petrov who had started 7th on the grid was 5th.
When Buemi pitted, Grosjean tried to catch up with the leader, but the Brazilian had already managed to pull a comfortable gap, enough for him to pit and get back on the track in front of his rivals.
Unfortunately, the team had changed only one rear tyre when the sporting regulations requires that at least two tyres be changed on the car during the mandatory pit stop… Senna pitted again on lap 29 to change the second tyre, and not only lost the race but was excluded from it.
This left Grosjean and Buemi to fight for the win. The Frenchman eventually overtook the Swiss on lap 26. With Yelmer Buurman finishing 3rd, Trust Team Arden placed their two drivers on the podium. Vitaly Petrov finished 4th. With one great move on Bonanomi in the last lap, Yoshimoto took 5th. Jérôme d’Ambrosio finished 7th. Milos Pavlovic, who crossed the finish line in 8th place, will start on pole position on the reversed grid tomorrow.
In the drivers’ standings, Petrov still 2nd has 33 points closely followed by Sébastien Buemi with 32 points.
Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix): "I had a good start, but then I missed the braking point at the hairpin. That’s when Senna made a good move and passed me. After that, I had a great fight with the Trust Team Arden boys to get back in front. I fought all the way to the win."
Sébastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden): "This podium is another great result for the team. Tonight, I’m only one point behind Petrov. He will start in front of me tomorrow, so I’ll have to make another great start and fight until the last lap in order to finish second of the championship."
Yelmer Buurman (Trust Team Arden): "This is only my third round in the GP2 Asia Series, therefore this is an amazing result for me and the team. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I will do anything to get some more points."
Dubai – Race 1
1. Romain Grosjean ART Grand Prix
2. Sébastien Buemi Trust Team Arden
3. Yelmer Buurman Trust Team Arden
4. Vitaly Petrov Barwa International Campos Team
5. Hiroki Yoshimoto Qi-Meritus Mahara
6. Marco Bonanomi Piquet Sports
7. Jérôme d’Ambrosio Dams
8. MilosPavlovic BCN Competicion
9. Jason Tahinci BCN Competicion
10 Ho-Pin Tung Trident Racing
11 Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing
12 Luca Filippi Qi-Meritus Mahara
13 Alberto Valerio Durango
14 Davide Valsecchi Durango
15 Roldan Rodriguez Fisichella Motor Sport International
16 Harald Schleghelmilch Trident Racing
17 Diego Nunes DPR
18 Stephen Jelley ART Grand Prix
19 Aarman Ebrahim DPR
20 Kamui Kobayashi Dams
Not Classified
Ben Hanley Barwa International Campos Team
Karun Chandhok iSport International
Christian Bakkerud Super Nova Racing
Marcello Puglisi Piquet Sports
Adrian Valles Fisichella Motor Sport International
Bruno Senna iSport International
Car n°2 excluded after the team did not comply with sporting regulations.
Fastest lap time: Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) – 1:42.154 on lap 32
Drivers’ Championship Fastest lap time: Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) – 1:42.154 on lap 32
Drivers’ Championship
1. Romain Grosjean 61
2. Vitaly Petrov 33
3. Sébastien Buemi 32
4. Bruno Senna 23
5. Kamui Kobayashi 23
6. Adrian Valles 19
7. Hiroki Yoshimoto 13
8. Davide Valsecchi 13
9. Yelmer Buurman 11
10. Jérôme d’Ambrosio 8
11. Karun Chandhok 7
12. Andy Soucek 6
13 Ben Hanley 6
14 Milos Pavlovic 6
15 Luca Filippi 4
16 Harald Schleghelmilch 3
17 Marco Bonanomi 3
18 Alberto Valerio 2
19 Ho-Pin Tung 2
20 Michael Herck 1
-gp2 - also photos
photos will be on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - GP2 Series
