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."