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
Driver /Team 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 Driver Team Ben Hanley Barwa International Campos Team KarunChandhok iSport International Christian Bakkerud Super Nova Racing Marcello Puglisi Piquet Sports AdrianValles 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’ ChampionshipFastest lap time: Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) – 1:42.154 on lap 32
Drivers’ Championship
Driver Points1. Romain Grosjean 612. Vitaly Petrov 333. Sébastien Buemi 324. Bruno Senna 235 Fairuz Fauzy 235. Kamui Kobayashi 226. AdrianValles 197. Hiroki Yoshimoto 138. Davide Valsecchi 139. Yelmer Buurman 1110. Jérôme d’Ambrosio 811. KarunChandhok 712. Andy Soucek 613 Ben Hanley 614 MilosPavlovic 615 Luca Filippi 416 Harald Schleghelmilch 317 Marco Bonanomi 318 Alberto Valerio 219 Ho-Pin Tung 220 Michael Herck 1
