DAMS raced in the short GP2 Series race on the Catalonian circuit, a curtain raiser for the Spanish F1 Grand Prix. Jérôme d'Ambrosio, who started from sixth place on the grid after his third position yesterday, put in another great drive. He made a perfect getaway and was up into second spot after the first corner. Later, he was passed by Romain Grosjean, but he was able to keep up the pace and finished third for the second time this weekend.
Kamui Kobayashi was handicapped by a problem at the start. The Japanese was on pole but made a sluggish getaway. He was fifth at the end of lap 1, and this is where he stayed till the chequered flag scoring his first points of the 2009 GP2 Series season.
Jérôme d'Ambrosio's 10 points put him in second place overall in the drivers' ratings. After 3-points scoring finishes in two races, DAMS is currently lying second in the teams' overall classification after the first round. The squad is now looking forward to the next event in 2 weeks' time in the streets of Monaco.
Eric Boullier, team manager: “We're pretty satisfied with the first weekend. Even if things haven't worked out according to plan, we've bagged a reasonable haul of points. Kamui and Jérôme both used their experience in the series to find the right balance between attack and restraint in the two races. It's proof of a reasoned, calm approach. Now, we have to work to close the small performance gap to the leading team.”
Jérôme d'Ambrosio, 6th on the grid, 3rd at the finish “I managed to squeeze by on the outside in the first corner and gained several places, which determined the outcome of my race. I had to look after the tyre wear so as not to have problems at the end. This is what I did once I was firmly installed in third place. I'm satisfied with the weekend. Two rostrum finishes in two races is a good start. Now I have to get up onto the highest step. I hope it'll be in Monaco!”
Kamui Kobayashi, pole position, 5th at the finish “I'm disappointed. When you start from pole your aim is to win the race. The result was decided for me when the lights went out. I wasn't able to accelerate properly, maybe because my tyres were too cold and I lost several places in the long straight before the first corner. Barcelona is a circuit on which overtaking is very difficult, so I was forced to stay in fifth place throughout the race. It's a bit frustrating but I try to look on the bright side of things; I've scored points today and that's what I'll have to do in each round if I want to win the title this year.” Race 2 results : Pos Driver Team Time 1. Edoardo Mortara Arden 39m55.235s 2. Romain Grosjean Barwa Campos + 1.251s 3. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS + 6.518s 4. Giedo van der Garde iSport + 14.638s 5. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS + 17.170s 6. Pastor Maldonado ART + 20.099s 7. Luca Filippi Super Nova + 28.971s 8. Diego Nunes iSport + 29.258s 9. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Campos + 29.433s 10. Lucas di Grassi Racing Engineering + 31.038s 11. Alvaro Parente Ocean + 32.026s 12. Luiz Razia Fisichella + 33.167s 13. Alberto Valerio Piquet + 33.789s 14. Nico Hulkenberg ART + 34.278s 15. Giacomo Ricci DPR + 38.913s 16. Davide Valsecchi Durango + 40.811s 17. Sergio Perez Arden + 42.258s 18. Nelson Panciatici Durango + 59.664s 19. Dani Clos Racing Engineering + 59.747s 20. Ricardo Teixeira Trident +1m00.052s 21. Davide Rigon Trident + 1 lap Retirements: Karun Chandhok Ocean 21 laps Javier Villa Super Nova 17 laps Michael Herck DPR 13 laps Andi Zuber Fisichella 8 laps Roldan Rodriguez Piquet 0 laps
