04/12/2008
NEWS STORY
Japanese ace Kamui Kobayashi got his revenge after trying for pole position in Shanghai and failing, when he managed to be the quickest man of the day at Dubai today, securing the top spot on the grid for tomorrow’s feature race. He delivered his best lap with only two minutes left on the clock.
In a trouble-free session and on a cleaner track than during Free Practice, Kobayashi finished ahead of countryman Sakon Yamamoto (ART). Vitaly Petrov completed the top 3 – making it an all Asian top three - however, the Russian was disappointed having been determined to take pole. However, traffic and a clash with van Der Drift on his final lap meant that Petrov never had the opportunity to show the true potential of his Campos car.
Championship leader, Roldan Rodriguez (Piquet) is on the second row, clocking the fourth best lap time, ahead of Shanghai sprint race winner Davide Valsecchi (Durango). Yelmer Buurman delivered another great result for newcomers Ocean Racing Technology, finishing 6th, ahead of rookie van der Garde (GFH Team iSport).
Earlier in the session, Diego Nunes looked like a real contender, but he eventually finished in eighth place ahead of another rookie, Sergio Perez, in the second Campos car. DAMS’ d’Ambrosio completed the Top 10.