BUEMI 2ND AND CROWNED VICE CHAMPION

Piquet Sports driver Marco Bonanomi snatched his first win in the 2008 GP2 Asia series finale while Trust Team Arden driver Sébastien Buemi had already walked away with the championship. Yelmer Buurman finished 6th. In the Team Championship, Trust Team Arden finished second.

Published: Saturday April 12, 2008

After a remarkably clean start in the last sprint race of the GP2 Asia 2008 season, Milos Pavlovic kept the lead from his pole position. But, in the opening lap the Serbian has to retire after a problem of oil pressure, leaving Jérôme d'Ambrosio to lead the race. However, in the second lap, Marco Bonanomi and Sébastien Buemi both overtook the Belgian driver from Dams. The Italian from Piquet Sports then pulled away.

Behind the top three men, Trident Racing Ho-Pin Tung tried to resist to Petrov's attacks: the Russian knew at that point that with Buemi in front of him, the second place of the championship was out of his reach. The Safety car was deployed in Lap 5 after a crash involving the two DPR cars, along with Alberto Valerio and Ben Hanley.

At the restart, if Bonanomi impeccably kept the lead, Buemi went a little wide, letting d'Ambrosio pass, but the Arden ace quickly regained his position, while the Dams driver was overtaken by Vitaly Petrov. What promised to be a great battle between Buemi and Petrov ended prematurely after the Barwa International Campos Team man had to retire because of what seemed to be a problem of fuel pressure.

Marco Bonanomi crossed the finish line a winner for the first time in GP2 resisting to Trust Team Arden Sébastien Buemi's come back. The Swiss arrived in second place and hence was crowed 2008 GP2 Asia Vice Champion. Dams Jérôme d'Ambrosio took third and scored his second podium of the season. Davide Valsecchi, Yelmer Buurman and Fairuz Fauzy completed the Top 6. ART Grand Prix was crowned Champion yesterday. Trust Team Arden finished second in front of Barwa International Campos Team.

Marco Bonanomi commented, "It's a perfect day! I had some problem yesterday at the start, but not today. After I took the lead, I just pushed really hard. Sébastien was faster than me at the end, but I managed to keep him in check. What a great way to end the championship!"

Sébastien Buemi (Trust Team Arden) added, "I wanted to win so much today… I had a great start, but then I had problems with my front left tyre. Therefore, I tried to use the rear tyres as much as possible. I'm really pleased with this result: the beginning of the season was so difficult on us and we worked really hard to fix the problems, I'm delighted to be Vice Champion and I can't wait for the GP2 Series to start!"

Jérôme d'Ambrosio commented, "I went a little bit wide in corner 6 in the first lap and I went in the dirty part of the track. That's how Marco and Sébastien overtook me. Then, I had a good restart, but I wasn't quick enough. This second podium is a great result for a rookie like me: this is a tough championship and if we keep on working like this, things look promising for the GP2 Series."

• 11/05 BIZARRE RACE YIELDS ANOTHER PODIUM FOR BUEMI
• 10/05 SIXTH PLACE FOR FIGHTBACK KING BUEMI
• 09/05 CHARACTER-BUILDING DAY FOR TRUST TEAM ARDEN
• 27/04 PODIUM JOY FOR BUEMI IN BARCELONA
• 26/04 BUEMI EARNS TWO POINTS… AND A FRONT-ROW START
• 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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