23/03/2008
NEWS STORY
The Dams driver, Kamui Kobayashi, claimed a historical victory today in Sepang: he is the first Japanese driver to have ever won a GP2 race.
It was very hot on the Malaysian track this morning as the GP2 Asia drivers took their place on the reversed grid. Trident Racing Harald Schleghelmilch started on pole position, next to BCN Competicion's Milos Pavlovic. However, as the lights went out, Kobayashi and Vitaly Petrov were the fastest to get into action and they took the lead, the Toyota F1 test driver ahead of Saturday's feature race winner. Behind these two men, Pavlovic and Schleghelmilch were already both under attack from Romain Grosjean, back from 9th place. Soon, the ART Grand Prix driver was 3rd and chasing after Petrov. As the two men began a great scrap, the rest of the pack stayed close together with Puglisi, Buurman and Valsecchi in the points. Unfortunately, the Piquet Sports driver who was struggling eventually let Buurman and Valsecchi pass, and then Fairuz Fauzy and the two iSport International drivers.
At the front of the race, while Kobayashi was still easily leading, Grosjean overtook Petrov, but could not catch up with the Dams driver. With three laps to go, Karun Chandhok appeared in Fauzy's mirrors. However, the Super Nova man crossed the finish line first. Behind them, Bruno Senna set the fastest lap time with a 1:46.548.
Romain Grosjean is still leading the championship 11 points ahead of Vitaly Petrov. Fairuz Fauzy completes the Top 3.