26/04/2009
NEWS STORY
Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS) has won the GP2 Asia Series drivers' title after an exciting race weekend in Bahrain where Diego Nunes (Piquet GP) and Luiz Razia (Arden International) both took race wins in the six and final round of the championship.
Bridgestone's medium compound slick GP2 tyre was used in the hottest conditions ever for the medium compound at the Bahrain International Circuit, giving drivers a significant tyre management challenge. The hot weather gave competitors plenty to think about, as did the grip levels on track, which varied over the weekend due to sand on the track early in the weekend.
DAMS driver Jerome d'Ambrosio was the quickest man in qualifying, however it was second-fastest Kobayashi who started Saturday's Feature Race from pole, due to d'Ambrosio having a ten place grid penalty, given to him in at the last race in Malaysia.
Kobayashi made a poor start, however, and it was Piquet GP drivers Nunes and Roldan Rodriguez who took the advantage. Nunes stopped to change his rear tyres on lap 14 and won by 4.9secs from Rodriguez. Third place went to d'Ambrosio, who drove a storming race and set the fastest lap, a 1min 46.954secs, on lap 23 of the 33 lap race. Kobayashi finished fourth in this race, meaning he had sufficient points to be unbeatable in the championship.
Sunday's Sprint Race saw Luiz Razia start from P1 due to the reverse top eight grid and the Arden International driver was unchallenged in the extreme heat as he drove to his first GP2 win by over 11 seconds from second placed d'Ambrosio. Davide Rigon (Trident Racing) finished in third. The race's fastest lap, a 1min 46.648secs was set by d'Ambrosio on lap 6.
Kobayashi has won the drivers' championship with 56 points, ahead of d'Ambrosio with 36. Rodriguez jumps to third place with 35. The teams' championship has been won by DAMS with 92 points from Piquet GP on 59. Campos finished third with 54. The first round of the GP2 Series takes place alongside the Spanish Grand Prix on May 24-26.
Kentaro Yamamoto - Bridgestone Motorsport GP2 Series Engineer: "Firstly, congratulations to Diego and Luiz for their wins this weekend. Congratulations to Kamui and DAMS for their championship wins. I think both the driver and the team did a very consistent and good job through the season. Above all, they consistently made the best use of the medium compound GP2 Series tyre which can be a difficult task, especially when the weather is very hot like it has been this weekend. There have been other competitors in the season who have also shown very good tyre management and their experience from the GP2 Asia Series is very valid for Formula One in the future. I think our tyre allocation for this season has helped with the championship organisers' request to make tyre management more important and has helped the drivers in their understanding and development."