25/04/2009
NEWS STORY
Dams' Kamui Kobayashi clinched the GP2 Asia Series title in today's feature race in Bahrain while Diego Nunes (right) secured a second win ahead of his teammate Roldan Rodriguez.
The Toyota Formula One test driver's poor start from pole position today meant that he could not celebrate his GP2 Asia Series title on the podium, but the new champion did manage to make his way back to the front of the field again thanks to an early pitstop. With his closest rivals failing to score, Valsecchi most notably stalling on the grid, Kobayashi's P4 finish was enough to clinch the 2009 GP2 Asia Series crown.
While Kobayashi completely missed his mark at the start, both Piquet drivers managed a perfect launch, Nunes even better than Rodriguez and the Brazilian took the lead. The rest of the race looked pretty easy for the two men who never faltered and crossed the finish line in that order, bagging eighteen points and putting their team into second place of the Championship, four points clear of the Barwa International Campos Team.
Another man who really shone today was Jérôme d'Ambrosio who recovered from a ten place grid penalty to finish on the podium. Quickest yesterday in qualifying, the Belgian fought his way back from eleventh, overtaking van der Garde, then Razia and finally his teammate for third place, all the while setting fastest lap after fastest lap. This strong result gives him an opportunity to finish in the Championship's Top Three and also gave Dams the Teams' title.
Behind the Top 4, iSport's van der Garde finished fifth ahead of Sakon Yamamoto. The ART racer led for a couple of laps as he pitted later than the leaders. After that, the Japanese driver charged through the field and worked his way up to sixth. Like Yamamoto, Trident's Davide Rigon also pitted late and benefited from fresh tyres to pass Karun Chandhok and then Luiz Razia. The Brazilian Arden driver will start from the reversed pole tomorrow.
With Kamui Kobayashi crowned champion, all eyes are now on the four men who can still claim Vice Champion: with 35 points Roldan Rodriguez is ahead of Davide Valsecchi, who remains on 34. The flying Jérôme d'Ambrosio is fourth with 30 points while Vitaly Petrov is now fifth on 28.