Round 9, Barcelona
Kevin Magnussen and DAMS finish in a blaze of glory
Although the titles had been won DAMS was still hungry for more! On the Catalonian circuit Kevin Magnussen and the French squad ended their season in a blaze of glory with their eighth pole position (5th on the trot, a record) and their fifth victory in 2013! The Dane also scored his 13th top-3 finish in 17 races, telling proof of both driver's and machine's consistency and speed. The team's performance today was rounded off by Norman Nato clinching a brilliant fifth position as for once he wasn't hit by bad luck.
Qualifying was cut short by fog that was worthy of a special stage in the Monte Carlo Rally. As each driver had set a time on their first flying lap Race Control brought out the red flag as the cottony mass invaded the Montmelo circuit. A brief restart was envisaged but thought too risky, and the positions were frozen according to the first set of timed laps putting Kevin on pole and Norman in eighth place on the grid.
After that the race was a doddle. Magnussen made his usual excellent start and fought off Vandoorne's attacks, after which he pulled away easily following his pit stop opening up a gap of 12 seconds over his Belgian rival. Nato also made a good getaway, held on to sixth place in the opening laps in the race and came in for an early pit stop in seventh place. He rejoined on a track that was in a poor state and banged in a series of qualifying laps, which gave him the encouraging result he's been chasing all season. Thus, the whole team was able to celebrate in the style it deserved DAMS's 25th anniversary in racing slightly in advance!
François Sicard, Managing Director: "After winning the titles yesterday we were determined to finish on a high note. Bravo again to the team which honoured its new crown. Kevin was in dominant form again today and we're delighted to have helped him concretise his talent. We're also very happy with Norman's weekend as this afternoon he was able to show his full potential. He drove a particularly brilliant race and he's where we expected him to be."
Kevin Magnussen: "We had to finish the job in style! My thanks again to the team. The car was fantastic and our strategy with two new tyres on the rear at the pit stop helped me to make the difference afterwards. The whole weekend's gone off like a dream and we've achieved all our objectives. I'm really over the moon!"
Norman Nato: "Despite yesterday's incident I'll come away from this weekend with a lot of positives and hope for the future. I could probably have qualified further up the grid if the session hadn't been interrupted, and that would have put me in the running for a top-three finish today. I really enjoyed pushing after the pit stop and the result's satisfactory. Thanks again and bravo to the whole DAMS team."
