BUEMI 2ND IN SPRINTRACE BAHREIN

Trust Team Arden driver Sebastién Buemi finished 2nd in today’s sprintrace in Bahrein. His teammate Yelmer Buurman finished 8th.

Published: Sunday April 6, 2008

Dams driver Kobayashi claimed a second win today in the GP2 Asia Series at the Sakhir track. The French driver Romain Grosjean was declared Champion after the sprint race. 

iSport International Karun Chandhok and DPR Diego Nunes placed their car on the front row of the reversed grid this morning. Due to an electrical problem, Bruno Senna did not take part in the race. As the lights went off, all 25 cars took off, but in the first corner, Nunes and Chandhok touched, sending the Indian driver into a spin and leaving Petrov to lead, with Grosjean in his tail after an outstanding start from 8th place. In the last corner of the first lap, the RDD driver made a strong move on the Russian and pulled away easily, managing an 8 second gap with the rest of the pack.

Behind the ART Grand Prix driver Vitaly Petrov, Kamui Kobayashi, Adrian Valles and Trust Team Arden driver Sébastien Buemi closely fought for the podium. While the Dams driver tried to overtake Petrov, Buemi got passed Valles who was suffering with gearbox problems. On Lap 5, Kobayashi made a bold move on Petrov and gained second place, leaving the Russian to an entertaining fight with Buemi and Qi-Meritus’ Yoshimoto.

Mid-race, leader Grosjean started to have major brake problems. He lost ground and Kobayashi caught up with him rapidely and took the lead on Lap 13. Still struggling with his brakes, the Frenchman was then overtaken by the following six drivers and had to retire eventually. Towards the final stages of the race, Buemi overtook Petrov at the end of the main straight offering the GP2 Asia title to Grosjean in the process: with a 20 point lead in the championship on Petrov, three wins and a 2nd place, Romain Grosjean wins the inaugural title.

Kamui Kobayashi crossed the finish line first, followed by Sébastien Buemi – who signed the fastest lap time 1:45.455. Both men were already on the podium in the feature race. Vitaly Petrov completes it. Hiroki Yoshimoto, Harald Schleghelmilch and Davide Valsecchi scored the last of the points.

Next week, the last round in Dubai will see six drivers fight for the second and third places of the Championship with Petrov, Buemi, Fauzy, Senna, Kobayashi and Valles.

Sébastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden): “We had a great weekend! This result is really good for the team. They worked so hard on the car, and it was very competitive again today. When I see the standings, second place is within my reach. We had a hard time in Dubai last January. Let’s see if we can fix this.

Fastest lap time: Sébastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden) – 1:45.555 on lap 19

• 11/05 BIZARRE RACE YIELDS ANOTHER PODIUM FOR BUEMI
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• 25/04 TOUGH BAPTISM FOR TRUST TEAM ARDEN
• 12/04 BUEMI 2ND AND CROWNED VICE CHAMPION
• 11/04 DOUBLE PODIUM SUCCESS FOR TRUST TEAM ARDEN
• 11/04 GOOD QUALIFICATION FOR TTA DRIVERS IN DUBAI
• 06/04 BUEMI 2ND IN SPRINTRACE BAHREIN

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