A race in the desert: sandstorms ahead!
The 2008 GP2 Asia Series is in Bahrain this weekend for the fourth and penultimate Round of the Championship. With two rounds to go before the conclusion of the first GP2 Asia Series, Romain Grosjean is still leading the drivers’ championship with 35 points, but the rest of the standing has drastically changed since Sepang: Vitaly Petrov and Fairuz Fauzy confirmed their strong GP2 Asia performance. The Barwa International Campos Team driver scored 14 points in total in Malaysia and is now 2nd in the championship with 24 points.
With an additional 9 points scored at his home track, Super Nova Racing ace Fairuz Fauzy took third place in drivers’ standing, one point behind the Russian. Alongside Grosjean, Fauzy is the only driver to have scored at every race in the GP2 Asia Series. Behind the Top 3, four men can still fight for the finish podium. With 18 points and a 4th place in the championship, iSport International’s Bruno Senna will need to rebound fast after his frustrating Malaysian weekend which saw him score one single point for fastest lap time in the sprint race.
Meanwhile, Adrian Valles almost had his maiden win. At the wheel of his FMS International car, the Spaniard led the feature race, but an incident with Trust Team Arden’s Swiss Sébastien Buemi ruined both men’s hope of victory. Valles is now 5th in the championship, 3 points behind Senna. With 10 points each, Dams’ Kamui Kobayashi and Sébastien Buemi both proved that they can pretend to appear on the podium finish. When Red Bull Racing test driver Buemi won the feature race in Indonesia, the Toyota F1 third driver scored his first victory in the Malaysian sprint race. There is no doubt that they will both push really hard to cross the finish line once again before anybody else…
Qi-Meritus Mahara Luca Filippi, who won the opening race of the 2007 GP2 Series in Bahrain, commented: “The first word that comes to mind when you think about this circuit is “beige” because, compared to the European circuits, the view you have from the car is of an unvarying colour. It is a modern track with all kind of corners just like I like it! It may be dirty because of the sand, but with the right tyre strategy and the perfect line, you should be able to finish well. But, if you go to the dirty part of the track, you can lose big time! It should be another eventful weekend for GP2 Asia Series. Last year, I won here. We will work really hard to make it happen again this year.” Schedule Friday 4 April 11:55 – 12.25 Free practice 16.00 – 16.30 Qualifying Saturday 5 April 15.50 – 17.10 Race 1 (34 laps) Sunday 23 March 11.00 – 11.50 Race 2 (22 laps)
