as Razia takes maiden win
The Dams racer finished second behind Arden’s Razia in the 08-09 GP2 Asia Series final race in Bahrain Jérôme d’Ambrosio drove his heart out in today’s sprint race at the Bahrain International circuit. Starting from sixth place, the Belgian from Dams’ made another brilliant start that put him fourth. He then signed the fastest laptime, overtook Yamamoto and finally, in the very last stages of the race, he passed Rigon.
With six more points, d’Ambrosio became Vice Champion, stating once more Dams’ excellent form. Much mayhem happened at the start. As Luiz Razia perfectly took off, behind, the championship’s story was settled for Rodriguez and Valsecchi who were simultaneously taken out respectively by Karun Chandhok and Pastor Maldonado. In the same incident, FMS’ Gonzalez was also touched and the five cars stopped on the track had the safety car deployed in the very first lap. At that point, the standings of the championship were unchanged with Rodriguez on 35 points, Valsecchi on 34 and d’Ambrosio on 33. At the restart, Razia managed to keep his lead and was never to be caught by a slower Rigon. Behind them, d’Ambrosio passed Yamamoto for third place and immediately signed the quickest laptime, pocketing the bonus point. The Belgian was then third in the drivers’ standings as Rodriguez had scored a win in Shanghai.
So, it wasn’t enough, and Jérôme knew it. He tried to intimidate Trident’s Davide Rigon who resisted well under the pressure. Thinking about preserving his tyres, d’Ambrosio waited until the second to last lap to finally and successfully overtake Rigon, add another podium-finish to his season and scored enough points to be declared Vice Champion. Luiz Razia claimed a maiden win, while Davide Rigon bagged his first podium for Trident Racing. Behind the Top three, Sakon Yamamoto finished fourth ahead of the newly appointed Champion Kamui Kobayashi. Diego Nunes fought his way back to sixth place after a small mistake at the restart that saw him drop two places.
Dams’ duo takes the two top spots in the Drivers’ Championship. Roldan Rodriguez completes the Top 3 ahead of Davide Valsecchi and Vitaly Petrov. Nico Hülkenberg finishes sixth and best rookie although he competed for only one third of the season. In the Teams’ classification, French team Dams are champions ahead of Piquet GP and Barwa International Campos Team. Last season’s winners, ART Grand Prix, stands fourth.
Bahrain – Race 2
Driver Team
1. Luiz Razia Arden Int. Motorsport
2. Jérôme d’Ambrosio Dams
3. Davide Rigon Trident Racing
4. Sakon Yamamoto ART Grand Prix
5. Kamui Kobayashi Dams
6. Diego Nunes Piquet GP
7 Giedo van der Garde GFH Team iSport
8. Marco Bonanomi My Qi-Meritus.Mahara
9. Sergio Perez Barwa Int. Campos Team
10. Giacomo Ricci DPR
11. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Int. Campos Team
12. Javier Villa Super Nova Racing
13. Alvaro Parente My Qi-Meritus.Mahara
14. James Jakes Super Nova Racing
15. Fabrizio Crestani Ocean Racing Technology
16. Edoardo Mortara Arden Int. Motorsport
17. Hamad Al Fardan GFH Team iSport
18. Kevin Nai Chia Chen Fisichella Motor Sport Int.
19. Michael Damme Stelle Durango
Fastest lap time: Jérôme d’Ambrosio (Dams): 1:46.648 on lap 6
Not Classified
Driver Team Michael Herck DPR Ricardo Teixeira Trident Racing Roldan Rodriguez Piquet GP Karun Chandhok Ocean Racing Technology Davide Valsecchi Durango Rodolfo Gonzalez Fisichella Motor Sport Int. Pastor Maldonado ART Grand Prix
