04/12/2008
NEWS STORY
DAMS - Kamui Kobayashi (Pole) Jérôme d'Ambrosio (10th)
Today, the DAMS drivers took part in free practice and qualifying for the second round of the 2008-09 Asian GP2 Championship on the Dubai circuit. The French team came to this event as favourite after its good results in China and impressive test sessions on the Jerez and Le Castellet circuits.
This time it was racing, and one-and-a-half months after Shanghai the teams arrived in the Arab Emirates, where DAMS will have an opportunity to take over the head of the classification with Kamui Kobayashi and Jérôme d'Ambrosio. The French squad's drivers have always been at the top of the time sheets this autumn, and they were out to confirm their potential in free practice.
The Japanese was among the quickest on Thursday morning continuing the promise seen in last month's tests. Finally, he finished second beaten by the tiny gap of 1/1000 sec by New Zealand rookie Earl Bamber. In qualifying, it was another story and Kamui stunned his rivals with pole in 1 m 41.091 sec, 184/100 sec quicker than his fellow countryman Yamamoto.
D'Ambrosio was fourth quickest in free practice, but in qualifying the Belgian fell back, and he finished tenth after being baulked on his final flying lap.
The weather conditions for practice on the Dubai circuit, which hosted the final of the previous Asian GP2 Championship, were good. It was dry without strong winds as can sometimes be the case in this region. The track was pretty dirty and gradually became cleaner as the cars racked up the laps. DAMS confirmed its status as favourite after practice with Kobayashi's pole and D'Ambrosio in a position to score points.
Eric Boullier, team manager: "Obviously, we‘re delighted with Kamui's pole. He again showed that he's the quickest driver in the field in keeping with the consistency he's shown over the past two months. Jérôme also made a good start but his final time doesn't reflect his potential. Had Kamui not been on his line he could have qualified in fourth or fifth place. Overall, we're feeling pretty optimistic for the race. Practice wasn't upset by rain so let's hope it stays dry for the next couple of days."
Kamui Kobayashi: "I'm really happy with my pole position. It's important, all the more so as my main rivals in the championship are several places behind me. I'm fully concentrated on my main objective, winning tomorrow's long race. It won't be easy. The weather seems good for the moment and the car suits me down to the ground. So I'm ready, and I'm going to give my all."
Jérôme d'Ambrosio: "It all began well with the fourth quickest time in free practice. But in qualifying on my last flying lap Kamui was on my line in the last corner and he didn't see me. I lost vital tenths and as the times are very close I couldn't do better than tenth. But there are several overtaking spots here on the Dubai circuit, and I'm going to push to climb up through the fiel d. I'll do everything in my power to get near the rostrum."
Durango - Davide Valsecchi (5th) Michael Dalle Stelle (25th)
"I am happy about the car but not about the result. I could deliver a much better performance than this". These are the first words Davide Valsecchi said immediately after claiming P5 at the end of today qualifying. But the driver from Eupilio concluded with a smile: "The car is definitely good, tomorrow I will have to demonstrate to deserve it".
Michael Dalle Stelle will start from P25 but even his eyes were smiling when he declared: "To drive a GP2 car is… beautiful! I am learning quite rapidly and I feel that is gonna get better lap after lap. So I am now much more confident for tomorrow race". Which means that the two Durango Italian boys are both positive in relation with the difficult commitment waiting for them tomorrow."
Ocean Racing Team - Yelmer Buurman (6th) Fabrizio Crestani (23rd)
Yelmer Buurman qualified in a brilliant 6th place for the GP2 Asia Series in Dubai here today, the flying Dutchman putting Ocean Racing Technology on the 3rd row of the grid in its first ever race start. Yelmer clocked a 1'41''549, only 45 tenths of a second shy of the eventual pole position after giving a hint of what was to come in earlier practice for the team newly formed team of Tiago Monteiro and Jose Guedes when he secured the 8th best time overall.
This qualifying result has given an extra boost of confidence to the Dutch racer: "It is very good to be back in the GP2 Series and even better to do so with Ocean Racing Technology! Tiago Monteiro and Jose Guedes did a great job in gathering a great group of competent professionals together and I immediately had the feeling that the car can be quick. It was confirmed with my first set of tyres in qualifying but unfortunately I was stuck in traffic. There's no doubt the car has good potential. We will now work hard for the race and if everything goes according to the plan I think I could have a chance to climb onto the podium."
As for teammate Fabrizio Crestani, his 23rd place can be justified by the fact that the young Italian not only had to discover the GP2 Series itself, but also the Dubai circuit. He covered only a few laps but showed that he too can be competitive and is now confident that he can progress quickly. "This environment is totally new to me and I was worried I wouldn't take the ideal line on each lap. I felt better in the end but my tyres were dirty after going slightly off track and I could not get the maximum from my last lap. It is important to cover a lot of mileage in order to gain experience but I'm lucky to be in a team like this one."
Despite the lack of experience and the short time to structure itself, Ocean Racing Technology has made a good start in the GP2 Asia Series and Yelmer Buurman and Fabrizio Crestani will be able to confirm the team's potential in the two races held here on Friday and Saturday. There is a chance of rain on Friday but temperatures should remain nice with maximum of around 23°C.
GFH team iSport - Giedo van der Garde (7th) Hamad Al Fardan (19th)
Both GFH team iSport drivers Giedo van der Garde and Hamad Al Fardan had a trouble free qualifying session at the Dubai Autodrome despite neither driver ever having raced at the circuit before, with Van Der Garde the highest placed rookie.
GFH team iSport driver Giedo van der Garde qualified an impressive 7th for tomorrow's GP2 Asia Series feature race with a time of 1:41.557, just 0.5 seconds from pole sitter and experienced GP2 racer Kamui Kobayashi. Van der Garde was very quick in sectors 2 and 3, as quick as Kobayashi; therefore the engineers will be looking at the data and making preparations to improve performance in sector 1 for tomorrow's race.
The other GFH team iSport car driven by Bahraini Hamad Al Fardan qualified a solid 19th for tomorrow's race despite today being the first time Al Fardan has driven a race car since the last race in Shanghai back in October. Most of the current GP2 Asia Series drivers have been testing the GP2 Main Series car at Jerez and Paul Ricard, and racing in other formulas. Al Fardan has consistently improved his lap times throughout practice and qualifying with limited track time and was only 0.8 seconds adrift of his team mate who has recently completed a test with the Renault F1 team.
MY Qi-Meritus Mahara - Earl Bamber (16th) Alex Yoong (21st)
The second round of the 2008-2009 GP2 Asia series started well for My Qi-Meritus.Mahara with a strong result in the morning free practice session with Earl Bamber finishing fastest overall. In the afternoon qualifying session the New Zealander finished in sixteenth while his Malaysian team mate Alex Yoong will start from 21st on the grid for tomorrow's first race of the weekend.
Earl Bamber commented: "In the morning session, I had a really good lap. But after that there was a lot of traffic. The team did a fantastic job with the car and prepared it well for the race tomorrow. I find the track in Dubai amazing. It is nice to drive around it with a GP2 car. In qualifying we needed to work out how to go faster. The first set of tyres was alright, and I clocked the fastest time after five laps with 1.42.551. But then the Japanese drivers Yamamoto and later Kobayashi went faster. I over drove my second set of tyres and not much could be done after that. We will try to have a good race tomorrow and the morning results are very encouraging."
Alex Yoong commented: "It was raining a bit in the morning. The track was very dusty and slippery. I was hoping that it was fully cleaned after the rains yesterday, but it was not the case when I made a mistake in the first laps of the session. We missed a lot of the afternoon's running time. The car was not handling too badly, and we were faster and faster at each lap. Towards the end of the session there was a lot of traffic. On the positive side we have a new set of tyres for tomorrow. We'll try to make up for the qualifying in the race. With a bit of luck and good driving we should be in the points."
Peter Thompson, president and team founder of My Qi-Meritus.Mahara: "I have been looking forward to our second race weekend of the season. Overall, we did not have such a great qualifying round, despite a great first session for Earl Bamber in practice, but he did not get it together in the last part of qualifying. Alex was not feeling comfortable in the car so we will change the settings for him. Let's see in the race tomorrow how we fare. Well done to the entire team for their hard work today."
Trident Racing - Alberto Valerio (20th) Chris Van der Drift (24th)
The second round of the 2008-09 GP2 Main Series started today at Dubai Autodrome with practice and qualifications. Trident Racing came to U.A.E. fielding returning Chris Van der Drift and Brazilian Alberto Valerio, who was warmly welcomed by the whole team. Valerio completed the work assigned by the engineers in practice, ending up in 22nd, while Van der Drift was way less lucky: the New Zealander crashed at the beginning of the session due to a brake problem, and his car couldn't be back on-track in time due to the extensive repairs needed by the front end. The trouble also conditioned Van der Drift's qualification session, since he was forced to the impossible task of learning a new circuit in just 30 minutes. He'll take off from 24th place on tomorrow's Race 1, and will be facing a tough comeback attempt. Valerio didn't encounter such problems, but had a tough time in showing his full speed potential and had to content with a spot on row 10. The first race of the weekend will be given way at 13:10 local time (GMT+4), on a 34-lap distance. TV coverage is yet to define, but satellite channel Eurosport will broadcast both races.
Chris Van der Drift: "Today's results were heavily conditioned by this morning's brake issue, that caused my early crash in practice. After losing one entire session, I didn't have the time I needed to get the right confidence with an unknown track, and we were forced to conduct technical checkups in qualifying. When all the other cars were out to turn their quick laps, we had to recover the lost ground. It's a pity, like happened at Shanghai, we started the weekend with the wrong foot".
Alberto Valerio: "The 20th place scored in qualifying doesn't reflect my potential at all. Today we couldn't get what we deserved due to a series of minor reasons, but the weekend is still long. I hope to start fighting back since tomorrow's Race 1, in order to score a top-10 finish. That would reward both me and the team of all the hard work done, and allow me to have a good starting spot for Sunday".