DAMS - Kamui Kobayashi (1st) Jérôme d'Ambrosio (7th)

Today, Kamui Kobayashi made it clear that he is the man to beat this year. The Japanese driver started from pole and gave DAMS its first victory this season's Asian GP2 Series plus the fastest lap in the race: the French team now leads the championship. Jérôme d'Ambrosio also put on a good performance to finish seventh.

It looked on the cards in free practice and qualifying. The hard work done by DAMS since the Shanghai race bore fruit in Dubai. The team converted its Thursday pole into a victory winning this weekend's main race and also confirmed its status as title favourite. The French squad's scintillating form was underlined by Jérôme d'Ambrosio's points-scoring seventh place after he started from the fifth row.

Kobayashi was full of confidence after his pole position yesterday and left his rivals no chance in today's long race. He took the chequered flag with 14 secs in hand over the second-placed finisher. The promise he showed in China was brilliantly confirmed in Dubai, and he is now the man to beat in the championship. In the overall classification he leads Roldan Rodriguez by 3 points and David Valsecchi by seven.

Jérôme d'Ambrosio also drove a great race. He qualified in tenth place after Kobayashi held him up by accident in his last flying lap. He pushed hard with, in particular, a superb pass on Yamamoto and set the third-quickest time in the race. He finished seventh scoring 2 points, and above all he will start on the front row for the sprint event on Saturday.

This result confirms the DAMS team's role as favourite for the 2008-09 title. Despite a late pit stop that dropped him back Kobayashi was so much quicker than his rivals on the Dubai circuit that he seemed to be on another planet. D'Ambrosio also proved his determination and ability to score points. Of course, this has to be confirmed on Saturday in the sprint race (start 10h00 local time).

Eric Boullier, tea m manager: "Champagne time! It's a huge satisfaction for the whole team. After two victories last season we've opened our score thanks to Kamui. He dove a great race and he's now leading the championship. It's logical and well deserved. Jérôme too had a remarkable race. Despite a spin at the start of the event he fought his way up to seventh. It's looking good for tomorrow's sprint."

Kamui Kobayashi: "I'm over the moon! The car was perfectly set up and I was able to go flat out. I came out of the pits behind Petrov and Rodriguez but I just felt so much at ease that I was able to pass them without problems. Things are going well. This win puts me in the championship lead and now I feel confident in my capacity to battle for the title."

Jérôme d'Ambrosio: "What a race! At the start I pushed really hard and went off line and spun. I restarted in twenty-fourth place and the fact that I got back up to seventh gives me a lot of satisfaction. The car's reall y great and it enabled me to set the third-quickest time in the race. Tomorrow, in the sprint event I have to repeat my performance today – but without the spin! - so I can fight for victory."

Durango - Davide Valsecchi (2nd) Michael Dalle Stelle (17th)

Davide Valsecchi brought his Durango at the second place of Dubai race 1. Very well done even for Michael Dalle Stelle who finished seventeenth after a race run with cleverness. Davide made a magnificent start, entering the first corner as second, then a flat bottom support collapsed slowing him down for a bit, but in the end he claimed back his second position with extreme authority.

"At the start I guessed the right hole being able to pass three cars with one move. Not bad. – Davide declared - Some laps after I felt something wrong and I lost some positions but, going on and losing fuel weight, the situation went better so I pushed again getting back to the second place. Which is good because my aim is to get points at every race, commencing from tomorrow one."

GFH Team iSport - Giedo van der Garde (4th) Hamad Al Fardan (DNF)

GFH team iSport driver Giedo van der Garde scored the first points of his GP2 Asia campaign with a strong race to 4th after starting from 7th on the grid in today's Feature Race at the Dubai Autodrome. Van der Garde had a clean start and managed to pass Yelmer Buurman on lap 1. He was soon chasing down ART driver Sakon Yamamoto who was recovering from a poor start and made a great move to take 5th place. After a trouble free mandatory pit stop Van der Garde remained 5th until the Campos car of Vitaly Petrov suffered a problem and he soon passed him to take an impressive 4th place in only his second GP2 Asia race. Van der Garde now lies in joint 8th place in the Drivers Championship.

It was a frustratingly short race for Bahraini GFH team iSport driver Hamad Al Fardan but he showed his potential against some strong competition. Al Fardan made a storming start to the race from 19th on the grid to 12th by the end of the 1st lap and was soon on the tail of Andreas Zuber and Pastor Maldonado. Zuber ran wide and Al Fardan took the opportunity to dive down the inside only for Zuber to turn in on him. Zuber spun and Al Fardan continued for another lap but the GFH team iSport car was too badly damaged in the incident and spun out of the race on lap 3 with damaged steering.

Giedo van der Garde will start from 5th for tomorrow's Sprint Race with Hamad Al Fardan unfortunately starting from the back of the grid after his retirement. The race starts at 13:00pm local time.