DAMS won the short race in the fourth meeting of the Asian GP2 Championship in Bahrain. Kamui Kobayashi started from 6th place on the grid and finished lap 1 in 3rd spot. He then passed V. Petrov and took advantage of Romain Grosjean’s problems to go into the lead and see the chequered flag in 1st place after 24 laps. It is his 3rd rostrum finish in 3 races. Jérôme d’Ambrosio who started from 11th on the grid got held up in the first corner traffic jam. He then ran into tyre problems towards the end of the race and finished in 12th place.
DAMS is in 5th place in the Teams’ standings with 28 points (6 points from the 2nd place).In the Drivers’ Kamui is 6th with 22 points (6 points from the 2nd place) and Jérôme 12th with 6 points. Next week the teams will be in Dubai for the final round of the championship.
Eric Boullier, team manager: “We’re absolutely delighted with today’s result. We reckoned that starting from sixth place a rostrum finish was on the cards. We did much better than expected and Kamui scored his second victory of the season. He pushed until he took the lead and then nursed his car and tyres. Jérôme did the best he could but his hopes were slim as he was starting from eleventh on the grid for the short race. We’re determined to give our all in Dubai in the next meeting to finish the championship on a high note.”
Kamui Kobayashi6th on the grid: victory
“Yesterday, I reckoned that a rostrum finish was a possibility and that would already have been a good result. Winning the race is fantastic! I’ve been on the rostrum twice this weekend and I’ve scored twelve points, so I’m well placed to snatch third place in the championship. My motivation was already strong; today it’s been tripled!”
Jérôme d’Ambrosio11th on the grid: 12th place
“A race to forget. I couldn’t take advantage of the first corner traffic jam and then I had tyre problems. I was tenth for most of the race but I lost two places near the end. It’s a pity as I was hoping for a much better weekend after setting the seventh-quickest time yesterday.”
Jean-Paul Driot, Team Principal: “I’m very happy with our weekend. The team’s continuing to improve after opening its score in Malaysia. Today, our aim is to finish on the rostrum in both championships.”
