It's been a difficult weekend for the team, which leaves Barcelona empty-handed. However, Romain Grosjean and DAMS remain in contact with the front-runners as the points were split among several rivals.
On Saturday, Grosjean started from fourth place on the grid and had an incident-free race – compared to the previous ones – slightly behind the first three and well in front of the fifth-placed driver. Unfortunately at scrutineering, the car was found not to comply with the regulations and he was disqualified. He was doubly punished as he had to start from the back of the grid for Sunday morning's race. He put on a marvellous display of overtaking as he sliced his way past two-thirds of the field. He finished almost alongside his team-mate at the flag in the same tenth of a second.
Pal Varhaug confirmed his potential in the two rounds. He made a good come back in the main one, which gave him sixteenth place on the track, and he moved up one more due to his team-mate's disqualification. He drove an even better race on Sunday and finished eighth, not far off the point for sixth while fending off Grosjean's final attacks.
Loïc David: General Manager: "It really wasn't our weekend. After a good free session, we were never in a position to battle with the front-runners. The track conditions had evolved and maybe we didn't adapt as well as we could have. In race 2, Romain again showed his potential and that of the car: that's reassuring before Monaco."
Romain Grosjean: Feature race : P4 (disqualified) Sprint race : P9
"It's been a frustrating weekend, but we have to see the positive side. Even in difficult conditions we were in a position to go for the podium. Yesterday, we had a problem with our pit stop but the strategy was the right one. I really enjoyed myself today with all those passing manoeuvres after starting from the back of the grid. A couple more laps and I'd have been in the points. Monaco will be another kettle of fish and we have the potential to win there."
Pal Varhaug: Feature race : P16 Sprint race : P8
"Again it's a pity I started so far back on the grid on Saturday. I managed to gain a few places in the race and that helped me move up today. I finished just outside the points, and I didn't make any mistakes when Romain put pressure on me on the last lap. I hope to do better in Monaco."
Next races: Monaco on Friday and Saturday 27-28th May. Results: Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Fabio Leimer Rapax 45m26.885s 2. Dani Clos Racing Engineering + 10.190s 3. Marcus Ericsson iSport + 20.711s 4. Davide Valsecchi AirAsia + 20.926s 5. Sam Bird iSport + 27.339s 6. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova + 38.974s 7. Alvaro Parente Racing Engineering + 40.280s 8. Pal Varhaug DAMS + 41.855s 9. Romain Grosjean DAMS + 41.925s 10. Rodolfo Gonzalez Trident + 51.503s 11. Max Chilton Carlin + 52.553s 12. Esteban Gutierrez ART + 1m02.219s 13. Johnny Cecotto Ocean + 1m03.298s 14. Julian Leal Rapax + 1m03.416s 15. Kevin Ceccon Coloni + 1m03.604s 16. Kevin Mirocha Ocean + 1m04.895s 17. Jolyon Palmer Arden + 1m05.099s 18. Mikhail Aleshin Carlin + 1m19.938s 19. Charles Pic Addax + 1m26.905s Retirements: Stefano Coletti Trident 24 laps Josef Kral Arden 24 laps Luiz Razia AirAsia 22 laps Luca Filippi Super Nova 21 laps Michael Herck Coloni 12 laps Jules Bianchi ART 0 laps Giedo van der Garde Addax 0 laps
