iSport - Senna 2nd Chandhok 7th

After four days of testing, qualifying was a very close fight between the top contenders and in the dying moments, Bruno was just beaten to pole by the ART car of Grosjean. Karun brought his car into a very competitive fourth place despite suffering from a fever and feeling below par. So a pretty good start to 2008 for the iSport team.

The start light sequence was very confusing and seemed to catch a lot of drivers out. Bruno maintained second into the first corner but Karun lost a place in the confusion, however they both made it safely through the first couple of corners. During that first lap, Soucek managed to pass Bruno, which started a battle that would last for most of the race. The pit stops failed to change the order so Bruno had to keep up the pressure until an opportunity opened up. Meanwhile, Karun was keeping pace with the leading bunch until his pit stop, when he spun on his out lap on cold tyres, this and a further spin when attempting an overtaking manoeuvre dropped him from contention for a podium.

Bruno continued to apply pressure to Soucek and eventually made it past him for second place. By now, Grosjean was too far away to mount a challenge but Bruno demonstrated the potential by setting fastest lap near the end of the race. Karun settled in to a good pace in the end and was vying for the fastest lap point as well, so both drivers have good potential. In a last minute twist Karun moved up to 7th as a result of a technical infringement on Buemi's car. Overall, a good start to the series with both cars on the pace and in the points.

Bruno Senna: "I started on the dirty side which gave Grosjean and Soucek the advantage but once the race got going my pace was there. I was faster than Soucek but he was quick on the straights so I just took it easy, knowing I could take advantage when his tyres wore off, which they did a few laps before the end. I'm a bit disappointed not to get the victory but it's still a good start to the season. The track is improving as the weekend goes on and as it's becoming more of a challenge I'm enjoying it more. I'll start seventh for the race tomorrow, so there will be the usual problems of the reverse grid but I hope to have an even better result than today."

Karun Chandhok: After a tough race, Karun retired early to the hotel to try to shake off the heavy cold that has afflicted him all day and hopes to be in better shape tomorrow so that he can fight for a podium finish.

DPR - Soucek 3rd Ebrahim 22nd

David Price Racing (DPR) returned to racing today in the inaugural round of the GP2 Asia Championship and took a superb third place at the Dubai Autodrome. Driver Andy Soucek fought hard to bring home DPR's first podium of the new series, whilst rookie team mate Armaan Ebrahim showed his ability to keep a cool head under pressure by completing his first full GP2 race.

Soucek started the day on a good footing being quickest during the morning warm up, setting a time of 1:21.870. As qualifying got underway, DPR again set the early pace with Soucek holding the top spot during the session with a time of 1:21.859 seconds. During the dying moments, Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) and iSport's Bruno Senna just piped Soucek by 0.099 seconds, leaving him a respectable third on the grid.

In only his first ever GP2 qualifying, newcomer Armaan Ebrahim (19) worked hard on set-up for the car and finished the session with a time of 1:24.764 seconds placing him 24th on grid ahead of the afternoons race.

As the lights went out in the first ever GP2 Asia Feature Race, Soucek made a strong start off the line, maintaining his third place into the first corner, Soucek then made an impressive manoeuvre down the inside of Senna into the third corner and took second place. Further back Ebrahim also made the best of his grid position, maintaining his position off the start line.

Soucek battled hard to keep Senna at bay, then on lap 17 he pitted coming in a few laps after Senna, putting the pressure on the DPR pit crew to get Soucek out in front. A faultless stop gave the DPR driver the edge and he re joined in second place and pulled out his lead to over three seconds. One lap later Ebrahim also made his stop, rejoining in 22nd place after another problem free tyre change from the DPR crew.

As the race progressed both drivers worked hard, coping well with the traffic and holding off challenges from behind. Senna caught up to the back of Soucek and they reignited their battle, but after nearly 38 laps of being chased down by Senna, Soucek's tyres went off causing a slight error into turn one. Senna then got a run on Soucek into the next few corners and the inevitable happened as Senna took the position. Soucek nursing his rear tyres came under threat from Adrian Valles in the dying laps, but he held off the challenge and bought the car home in a well deserved third place. Ebrahim drove maturely to bring home the car in 22nd position as the chequered flag fell.

David Price, Team Principal: "It was a good podium, with Andy having been on the pace all week and qualifying up front was a step forward as that's where we were struggling last season. All the work over the winter has paid off with the result today and we're anticipating maintaining this level of performance.

"Armaan didn't qualify as well as he ran in the relative ease of the free practice sessions, but it was his first GP2 qualifying and it's a tough session, as we're running on hard compounds and they take time to come up to peak performance. I think Armaan was as disappointed as we were with his qualifying position as this made it difficult for him in the race. It's a steep learning curve and a big step up for him, compounded by an engine problem on the first day which lost him valuable running time. We'll work with him and make gains as the season progresses."