2009 GP2 Asia - R03 Bahrain

Mekola · 22 Jan 2009, 23:06 (Ref:2377187)

Despite the moves of its creation, 2009 sees GP2 Asia with its future uncertain. It seems that the second season of GP2 Asia had't the strength of the inaugural one, but organizators and teams mantain the position to hold on with the series and obey the commitment they endorsed.

At the moment, only three races were done, the two at Shanghai (with victories of Rodr�*guez and Valsecchi) and the first round at Dubai won by Kobayashi, before the heavy rain caused a flood that not only cancelled the Sprint but dumped the next scheduled event on the circuit, replaced by a night race at Losail, Qatar.

Global economic crissis and perhaps some failings on the goals of the series (attract Asian drivers into formula system and somehow, challenge A1GP) caused permanent driver reshuffles where about six or seven cars changed hands round to round. But the series now has its card: to solve the apparent abscense of "mediatic" figures, young German hopeful Nico Hülkenberg will be in at the next race at Bahrain.

Now, let's see about the Sakhir weekend, to show if Kobayashi's pace could be matched by the Hulk, or not.

runshaw · 22 Jan 2009, 23:09 (Ref:2377189)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mekola

Now, let's see about the Sakhir weekend, to show if Kobayashi's pace could be matched by the Hulk, or not.

Qualifying took place hours ago, and yes, 'The Hulk' is on pole. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72942

Mekola · 22 Jan 2009, 23:13 (Ref:2377193)

Hülkenberg on pole!

1. Nico Hülkenberg - ART Grand Prix - 1:41.351
2. Jérôme d’Ambrosio - Dams - 1:41.476
3. Kamui Kobayashi - Dams - 1:41.523
4. Edoardo Mortara - Arden Int. Motorsport - 1:41.978
5. Roldan Rodriguez - Piquet GP - 1:42.195
6. Giedo Van der Garde - GFH Team iSport - 1:42.307
7. Sakon Yamamoto - ART Grand Prix - 1:42.344
8. Javier Villa - Super Nova Racing - 1:42.355
9. Marco Bonanomi - My Qi-Meritus.Mahara - 1:42.362
10. Davide Valsecchi - Durango - 1:42.449
11. Vitaly Petrov - Barwa Int. Campos Team - 1:42.458
12. Diego Nunes - Piquet GP - 1:42.564
13. Sergio Perez - Barwa Int. Campos Team - 1:42.633
14. James Jakes - Super Nova Racing - 1:42.636
15. Earl Bamber - My Qi-Meritus.Mahara - 1:42.798
16. Hamad Al Fardan - GFH Team iSport - 1:42.818
17. Yelmer Buurman - Ocean Racing Technology - 1:42.833
18. Luiz Razia - Arden Int. Motorsport - 1:43.061
19. Fabrizio Crestani - Ocean Racing Technology - 1:43.373
20. Adrian Vallés - Trident Racing - 1:43.401
21. Michael Herck - DPR - 1:43.413
22. Rodolfo Gonzalez - Fisichella Motor Sport Int. - 1:43.702
23. Giacomo Ricci - DPR - 1:44.043
24. Francesco Provenzano - Trident Racing - 1:44.325
25. Kevin Nai Chia Chen - Fisichella Motor Sport Int. - 1:45.281
26. Michael Della Stelle - Durango - no time

Mekola · 22 Jan 2009, 23:23 (Ref:2377204)

Just noted that both FMSI cars have Coloni Motorsport logos on their rear wings. Interesting.

runshaw · 22 Jan 2009, 23:29 (Ref:2377208)

Aren't FMSI run partially by Paolo Coloni?

ivanalesi · 23 Jan 2009, 01:47 (Ref:2377263)

With or without the crisis overhype, GP2 Asia gather a somewhat healthy grid with about 20 good drivers and may be some outstanding drivers.
Some drivers like Valles, Petrov and Valsecchi are struggling for some reason... I didn't expect Hulkenberg and d'Ambrosio in front of Kobayashi, especially d'Ambrosio.

Go_For_Pole · 23 Jan 2009, 08:25 (Ref:2377352)

Quote:

Originally Posted by runshaw

Aren't FMSI run partially by Paolo Coloni?

They are run by Coloni Motorsport and it could be that the partnership with Fisi is over. On the other hand, in the recently announced deals with Zuber and Gonzalez there was a clear mention of Zanarini involvement.

**chunterer** · 23 Jan 2009, 12:51 (Ref:2377522)

Well 'interesting' first race.

Firstly I still had to pinch myself when I sat down in front of the box at 10am on a cold Friday morning in January and GP2, the best racing catgeory in the world, was on!!!!! Fantastic stuff.

Kobayashi drove a superb race, tracked Hulkenburg early on making the German do all the work and stressing his tyres! On board shots showed the ART driver's car's tyres were fairly shot late in his first stint!

Sensible drive by him in what was only his debut race in the category, I expect he learned a massive amount from that those 45 odd laps.

Mortara impressed me too with 3rd place. A little ragged perhaps, but possibly ruined D'Ambrosio's race by holding him up early on although he had enough pace to get past and cement 2nd.

Some people entertained with fairly crazy driving! Bamber weaving all over the road at one point when someone came out of the pits behind him (can't recall who but I doubt they were happy about it), and Perez and Villa having a wheel banging match during a nice battle that the Barwa driver eventually won.

Wonder what other people thought of it?

Obi Offiah · 23 Jan 2009, 16:40 (Ref:2377690)

chunterer, on what channel did you watch the race?

Obi

OJB · 23 Jan 2009, 18:49 (Ref:2377795)

The only thing more bemusing than the Perez/Villa battle was Gonzalez literally driving from one side of the track to the other to keep Yamamoto behind, even pushing him onto the dirt. Surprised he was allowed to keep that position!

Kobayashi drove well - how different a driver does he look compared to just a few short months ago! d'Ambrosio too - I remember him being dropped after about 4 races in the World Series only a couple of years ago!

Mortara was impressive, but Hulkenberg was probably trying a bit too hard. He's a great qualifier, but has shown in F3 races his race craft needs a little tweaking. And what was with that weaving down the straight - is that allowed?

Valsecchi was impressive again, and Rodriguez keeps surprising me. van der Garde and Perez up there again too. Good quality race, if a little lacking in terms of entertainment by GP2 standards.

OJB · 23 Jan 2009, 18:50 (Ref:2377797)

Obi, it was on Eurosport - is again tomorrow but I'm not sure if it is live.

**gomick** · 23 Jan 2009, 22:19 (Ref:2377932)

d’Ambrosio goes alright i reckon - should he have got more credit for winning the formula master title 2 years ago

Sev · 24 Jan 2009, 10:39 (Ref:2378129)

..and beating Koyabashi in GP2 main series last year, with double Koyabashi's points.

Admittedly, a large part of that was consistency rather than speed, but its not something to be forgotten.

**chunterer** · 24 Jan 2009, 10:54 (Ref:2378139)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sev

..and beating Koyabashi in GP2 main series last year, with double Kobayashi's points.

Admittedly, a large part of that was consistency rather than speed, but its not something to be forgotten.

I dunno, Kamui is definitely a quick driver and if he keeps improving like he is, he may well go on to become Japan's first F1 race winner.....

However Jerome also showed great speed at time last year. After all, he did pull off one of the moves of the season at Hockenheim when he passed a guy around the outside of the 'Mercedes' curve. That was a lot of class and balls!!!

Can either of them win today's race from where they are?

If i'm not mistaken it'll be a Perez, Van Der Garde front row today....

Sergio has shown fine racecraft so far in his short GP2 career. I'd like to see what he can do from the front!

Martin Haven · 24 Jan 2009, 11:27 (Ref:2378151)

[QUOTE=chunterer]Well 'interesting' first race.

Firstly I still had to pinch myself when I sat down in front of the box at 10am on a cold Friday morning in January and GP2, the best racing catgeory in the world, was on!!!!! Fantastic stuff.[QUOTE]

And only slightly ruined by the lead commentator in bile-dripping mode...

Retrospectiverly, I'm not sure who I'd slap first... the dangerous drivers, or the stewards who apparently didn't spot any of the random and/or downright dangerous moves...

on balance, the stewards, I think... after all, if they crack down on this kind of thing, the drivers will have to behave or change career

Martin Haven · 24 Jan 2009, 11:30 (Ref:2378152)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sev

..and beating Koyabashi in GP2 main series last year, with double Koyabashi's points.

Admittedly, a large part of that was consistency rather than speed, but its not something to be forgotten.

To finish first... etc

There's no point in being quick but binning the car before the flag... no-one is ever going to win a Chanpionship with just the points for pole and fastest lap...

Wait for today's race... you'll see D'Ambrosio proving that he deserves to be taken seriously...

and that you don't have to force a rival into the barriers to get past them, it can actually be done by clever racecraft...

I sense a ban coming!! That's not how it's done, Jerome...

Lam Pak · 24 Jan 2009, 13:37 (Ref:2378210)

who is taking the lead of championship? i bet for kamui but ambrosio,rodriguez and valsecchi we never know...

isport this asian seeason is pointless.

**chunterer** · 24 Jan 2009, 16:15 (Ref:2378278)

Kobayashi leads the series.

He was fairly lacklustre in today's race i'm afraid and could only manage a couple of points. Mind you that's better than none at all!

Perez converted pole to chequer in a fairly convincing display I reckon. Valsecchi closed him down in the last half a dozen laps but ran out of time to mount a serious assault.

D'Ambrosio (Gareth Rees' driver of the day... not completely sure i'd agree with that...) took his teamate on lap 2 or 3 then spent a dozen laps stuck behind Villa and Rodriguez in 4th and 5th. He eventually disposed of them and then brilliantly did Hulkenberg on the penultimate lap.

There was a massive scrap further back for a long while involving about 6 cars. Gonzales was at the head for a while and then Yamamoto, Petrov, Bonanomi, Jakes and probably more got in on the act....it was like a Formula Ford race!!!

My driver of the day had to be the winner. He's impressed so far this series, and has fairly comfortably outdone the far more experience Petrov, who incidentally appears to be going backwards?

Albeckinho · 24 Jan 2009, 17:11 (Ref:2378295)

Something that caught my eye was Huelkenberg's height, he was almost like Justin Wilson! I checked his website, and it says that he's 184cm, so pretty tall for a racing driver. How big disadvantage is that? He's 70kg, but let's say someone would be 185/85, how much he gives advantage to the others in junior single seaters? Okay, it's bit offtopic, but...

OJB · 24 Jan 2009, 17:47 (Ref:2378303)

I think Vitaly was a bit ill this weekend, apparently....

It seems a shame that Perez's seat in the GP2 main series is probably going to be given to Romain Grosjean. I really think Sergio can be a winner in the main series - his double British F3 win at Monza from 14th on the grid in both races definitely marks him out as a potential star.

I imagine Telmex offer fairly good backing though, so I'm confident he could land at a good team, albeit not maybe quite as good as Campos.

ivanalesi · 24 Jan 2009, 20:06 (Ref:2378371)

This is strange with Hulkenberg's seat, I remember when Berger went to Benetton he had the same problem and the team said he was down some hp. Does anyone know if he lost any power? It seemed very oddly high.

**gomick** · 26 Jan 2009, 10:49 (Ref:2379506)

good win for sergio perez

- good weekend for Kobayashi & D'Ambrosio too...

strider · 26 Jan 2009, 13:30 (Ref:2379596)

Quote:

Originally Posted by OJB

It seems a shame that Perez's seat in the GP2 main series is probably going to be given to Romain Grosjean. I really think Sergio can be a winner in the main series - his double British F3 win at Monza from 14th on the grid in both races definitely marks him out as a potential star.

I imagine Telmex offer fairly good backing though, so I'm confident he could land at a good team, albeit not maybe quite as good as Campos.

Totally agree. As a result of whatever edge Carlin got in BF3 in the later stages of last season, all the emphasis was on Alguersuari, Turvey and Hartley, but Perez is right up there with them for ability. After that Monza race he was leading the title chase by 32 points.

**chunterer** · 26 Jan 2009, 15:56 (Ref:2379674)

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerrmanningjarv

I'm not so sure - I remember reading an interview a week or so ago where Chris said he quit Trident as he was disappointed with the car not being very competitive... but I can't remember where I read it.

Well if that's the case he did really well to finish the first 2 races in China where he did! No doubting he's one of the quickest young drivers about, hope he can get either a full season in the main series or failing that a World Series Renault drive. He's too good to be messing about lower than that now.

Back to topic and I agree about Perez - his classy performance on Saturday served as a timely reminder that his British F3 campaign was no fluke. A real talent there. I had forgotten that Grosjean was down to partner Petrov in the Barwa outfit. I wonder if Carlos Slim might exert greater financial 'pressure' on the Barwa team owner to sign Sergio, who is clearly the Mexican most likely to hit F1 soon, instead of Grosjean who after all is the 3rd Renault F1 driver officially now?

Back to the weekend Valles disappointed but I got the impression his car was almost undriveable for some reason? I wonder if he'll be back in 2 weeks time!

James Jakes had a few off's so he didn't really figure and apart from his excellent start in race 2, Javi Villa wasn't exactly electrifying either?

Obi Offiah · 26 Jan 2009, 22:35 (Ref:2380005)

Quote:

Originally Posted by OJB

Obi, it was on Eurosport - is again tomorrow but I'm not sure if it is live.

Thanks OJB

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