24/01/2009
NEWS STORY
DAMS - Jerome d'Ambrosio (3rd) Kamui Kobayashi (6th)
Following the Dubai round, DAMS and their driver Kamui Kobayashi made no mistakes in the third event of the season on 23rd-24th January on the Sakhir circuit. The Japanese confirmed his domination of the championship by winning the long race from his team-mate Jerome d'Ambrosio, and then finished sixth in the short one.
The six weeks between the 2 events has changed nothing, except maybe to give DAMS' rivals a few more sleepless nights over the rest of the championship! Not only has Kamui continued to tighten his stranglehold on the series, but his Belgian team-mate now seems to have got to grips with his car and has started racking up rostrum finishes.
Kobayashi was caught up in traffic in qualifying, and was in 3rd place on the grid for the first round behind Nico Hülkenberg and a brilliant d'Ambrosio. But it didn't make any difference, and he soon showed who was boss winning hands down from his team-mate. In a fairly hectic race today he managed to grab a few additional points that helped him consolidate his title aspirations.
The other piece of good news for DAMS this weekend is Jerome d'Ambrosio's performance. On Friday, he came second in the long race, and today he showed his talent by fighting his way up through the field from 7th place to third, pulling off a brilliant overtaking manoeuvre on Hülkenberg on his way to his second rostrum finish on the trot. He leaves Bahrain in 4th place overall in the championship.
This weekend, the weather in Bahrain was very pleasant (20°C in the air and 25°C on the track), a big change from the rain-shortened Dubai meeting. DAMS have consolidated their lead in the teams' classification and will tackle the next event in Qatar on 6th-7th February in a strong position.
Eric Boullier, team manager: "Obviously a fantastic weekend for the team! We couldn't have done any better on Friday as we scored our first double of the year. Each of our dri vers drove a perfect race. And today, with the reversed grid they were able to slice their way though the field to score points - and it wasn't easy. Jerome, in particular, had a great race. It's all good news for the teams' championship in which we've now got a big lead."
Kamui Kobayashi: "It's been a very positive weekend for me and for the team. I needed a big haul of points for the title and I succeeded. Friday was a trouble-free race but today was a bit more difficult in the traffic. I've now got a ten-point lead over the second-placed driver in the championship but the battle isn't over yet. I'll have to keep up the same rhythm."
Jerome d'Ambrosio: "These two rostrum finishes have given my confidence an enormous boost. On Friday, I fluffed my start and that put me too far behind Kamui to take the fight to him. In any case, the points were very important for the team. But I'm much happier with my race today; I pushed from start to finish and I pu lled off a few great overtaking manoeuvres, which made my third place all the sweeter. I'm over the moon!"
GFH Team iSport - Giedo van der Garde (14th) Hamad Al Fardan (DNF)
GFH team iSport drivers Giedo van der Garde and Hamad Al Fardan both failed to score points in today's sprint race at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) with van der Garde suffering technical problems on the grid and Al Fardan retiring from the race.
Dutch GFH team iSport driver Giedo van der Garde encountered problems when selecting 1st gear on the grid forcing the GFH team iSport driver to relinquish his 2nd place grid slot and start from the pit lane. With hopes of his first GP2 Asia victory dashed, van der Garde eventually stormed through to a respectable 14th place.
Local hero and GFH team iSport driver Hamad Al Fardan had a great start, up to 9th from starting 12th. But after an intense fight with as many as 6 other cars for the points paying positions Al Fardan sustained damage to his GFH team iSport car. After changing the front wing Al Fardan was eventually forced to retire with suspected suspension damage.
My Qi-Meritus.Mahara - Earl Bamber (7th) Marco Bonanomi 10th
New Zealand rookie Earl Bamber and Italian driver Marco Bonanomi started eleventh and twentieth respectively in the 23 lap second race in Bahrain and finished in seventh and tenth places respectively. Bamber's start pushed him from eleventh to seventh; then he dropped one position on lap 3 as d'Ambrosio passed him. For the rest of the race, he was a strong eighth place. Marco Bonanomi climbed four places to sixteenth right at the start and worked his way up the field to finish tenth.
Earl Bamber commented, "I had a strong start even if I was careful not to jump start. I went to the outside in the first corner but it was a good move and worked out. Later in the race I had a bit of pressure from Hamad Al Fardan. By mid-race, I was fighting hard. Jerome D'Ambrosio was behind me - he was quicker and passed me on the straight. Later, I would have liked to pass Kobayashi, but he was very quick and has lots of experience. I made one or two small mistakes that caused me drop back. I am happy it is a good result to prepare us for the next race in Qatar."
Marco Bonanomi commented, "Today was a very hard race. I am very pleased with my performance. I gave everything I could, starting 20th and finishing tenth. There was a lot of traffic but I can guarantee you that I pushed for every lap 100 per cent. Now I know the car a bit better. My take away is that the race starts on Thursday and that we need a strong qualifying. Then we can be on the podium and make progress more for the following race. See you in Qatar where we'll have learned from this lesson."
Peter Thompson, team founder commented, "I am very happy to have the two cars in the top ten at the finish. Earl Bamber and Marco Bonanomi have done a great job. It is a fantastic recovery from a poor start in the weekend. My Qi-Meritus.Mahara has again proved that race engineering and race pace are back and that we have improved since our troubled weekend in Dubai. We now have to focus on preparation for Qatar and focus on a podium for our first time in Qatar."
Raad S. Abduljawad, team chairman, My Qi-Meritus.Mahara commented, "It is good to have the two drivers finish the race and be top ten at their home race. The team worked very hard and I would like to congratulate the mechanics, the engineers and our team principal Gianfranco Bielli for this result. Now I can only think about the next race in Qatar and the sponsors. It is a fantastic achievement."
Firhat Yuri Bin dato Mokhzani, team director: "The team was improving today. We are ready to prepare for the next event in Qatar where none of our drivers will have raced yet."
FMS International - Kevin Chen (21st) Rodolfo Gonzalez (DNF)
After a six week break, the 2008/09 GP2 Asia Series resumed this weekend as the paddock fraternity made its first of two planned visits this season to the Bahrain International circuit. For the third round of the championship Fisichella Motor Sport International was pleased to introduce Rodolfo Gonzalez to the team to drive alongside Kevin Chen.
Free practice and qualifying both took place on Thursday, with Rodolfo and Kevin producing consistent results throughout the day. After completing 15
laps of practice, Rodolfo headed into his first GP2 qualifying session and set a fastest lap of 1:43.702 in the 30-minutes, recording the 22nd fastest time and setting himself up on the 11th row of the grip for Saturday's Feature race. Kevin completed 17 laps of practice and qualified two rows behind Rodolfo after setting the 25th fastest time with a lap of 1:45.281.
In a relatively incident-free Feature race on Friday, which saw just four retirements, both Rodolfo and Chen made steady and consistent progress.
After 34 laps, Rodolfo took the chequered flag in 16th position, an improvement of six places from his starting slot. Kevin also improved four positions, despite stalling on the start line, and crossed the line in 21st place.
Ahead of Saturday's Sprint event, Rodolfo was penalised after an incident on Friday involving Sakon Yamamoto and subsequently began the race from 18th. He made an excellent start and over the opening laps had moved up to 11th position and was looking strong to have a top ten finish. Unfortunately a brake disc failure put an end to the prospect of a promising result for him. Kevin began the race from 21st and crossed the line after 23 laps in the position that he started.
The fourth round of the series will take place 6-7 February when Qatar's Losail International Circuit will host a groundbreaking night race for races seven and eight.
Paolo Coloni, Team Principal: "I am actually very pleased with the weekend. On Friday in his first race, Rodolfo went off track twice but still crossed the line in 16th after starting 22nd and he showed very good pace. Kevin stalled at the start but again demonstrated a much improved pace and drove a steady race. On Saturday Kevin was getting better and better. Rodolfo made a very good start and was up to 11th but he made a mistake, which is normal due to his inexperience with the car, and it caused overheating of the brakes. We had to stop after a brake disc failure but I have to be impressed with his first weekend considering he didn't know the car, the team or the circuit and continued to make steady progress."