GP2 Asia, Sepang - Weekend Thread

[chunterer]

Okey dokey, Kobayashi still has that handy points lead but hasn't exactly been the man on form in the last couple of rounds.

The form men appear to be either of the Barwa drivers. Niko Hulkenberg was the other but as we know (or suspect) he will be replaced by Pastor Maldonado for the last 4 races.

So who's likely to have the edge this weekend?

Well there could well be a very latin flavour at the front....

On another note, I see that Eurosport has provisionally scheduled coverage of race one for Saturday morning at the same time as F1 qualifying is on BBC etc....

Assuming that it is actually a re-run of the first race this seems a strange decision?

Martin can you give us any more news on this weekend's coverage??!!!

[kerrmanningjarv]

Final driver line-up is as follows:

ART Grand Prix
1. Sakon Yamamoto (JPN)
2. Pastor Maldonado (VEN)

Arden International
3. Luiz Razia (BRA)
4. Edoardo Mortara (ITA)

Barwa International Campos Team
5. Vitaly Petrov (RUS)
6. Sergio Pérez (MEX)

DAMS
7. Jérôme d'Ambrosio (BEL)
8. Kamui Kobayashi (JPN)

Team GFH iSport
9. Giedo van der Garde (NED)
10. Hamad al Fardan (BRN)

Super Nova
11. Javier Villa (ESP)
12. James Jakes (GBR)

FMS International
14. Rodolfo Gonzalez (VEN)
15. Kevin Nai Chia Chen (USA)

Durango
16. Davide Valsecchi (ITA)
17. Michael Dalle Stelle (ITA)

My Qi-Meritus.Mahara
18. Marco Bonanomi (ITA)
19. Álvaro Parente (POR)

Piquet/GP
20. Roldán Rodr�*guez (ESP)
21. Diego Nunes (BRA)

DPR
22. Michael Herck (BEL)
23. Giacomo Ricci (ITA)

Ocean Racing Technology
24. Yelmer Buurman (NED)
25. Fabrizio Crestani (ITA)

Trident Racing
26. Ricardo Teixeira (ANG)
27. Davide Rigon (ITA)

Maldonado is in for Hulkenberg (as we knew already), so he should be a threat... round 2 in Dubai was a bit of a non-event for Pastor. Also Teixeira is in for Provenzano... he should be at the back with the Chen's of this world.

As for the front of the field... I see Kamui coming back to winning ways. He was so quick at the start of the season and I don't think he'll throw it all away now. Perez and Petrov will continue to be quick, and I also think Parente will be competitive after his confidence-lifting GP2 testing performances with Ocean. Finally I see Rigon sneaking into the top 8 despite driving a Trident.

[chunterer]

Practice times from Sepang:

1. Kamui Kobayashi Dams 1:46.432
2. Jérôme d’Ambrosio Dams 1:46.667
3. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet GP 1:46.717
4. Diego Nunes Piquet GP 1:46.742
5. Vitaly Petrov Barwa int. Campos Team 1:46.760
6. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:46.843
7. Alvaro Parente My Qi-Meritus.Mahara 1:46.912
8. Edoardo Mortara Ardenint. Motorsport 1:46.983
9. Sergio Perez Barwa Int. Campos Team 1:47.036
10. Pastor Maldonado ART Grand Prix 1:47.156
11. Javier Villa Super Nova Racing 1:47.287
12. Luiz Razia ArdenInt. Motorsport 1:47.471
13. Hamad Al Fardan GFH Team iSport 1:47.667
14. James Jakes Super Nova Racing 1:47.701
15. Davide Rigo Trident Racing 1:47.831
16. Yelmer Buurman Ocean Racing Technology 1:47.840
17. Giedo van der Garde GFH Team iSport 1:47.843
18. Sakon Yamamoto ART Grand Prix 1:47.948
19. Fabrizio Crestani Ocean Racing Technology 1:48.097
20 Rodolfo Gonzalez Fisichella Motor Sport Int. 1:48.374
21. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:48.417
22. Michael Herck DPR 1:48.498
23. Ricardo Teixeira Trident Racing 1:49.649
24. Michael Dalle Stelle Durango 1:50.036
25. Kevin Nai Chia Chen Fisichella Motor Sport Int. 1:50.412
26 Marco Bonanomi My Qi-Meritus.Mahara --

Bonanomi only managed a lap so some kind of problem there.

DAMS to the fore, usual suspects around the top 10.

Parente definitely a dark horse here methinks?

[META4]

Qualifying results


Jerome D'Ambrosio - Dams - 1'45"410
Diego Nunes - Piquet GP - 1'45"522
James Jakes - Super Nova - 1'45"527
Kamui Kobayashi - Dams - 1'45"577
Javier Villa - Super Nova - 1'45"649
Vitaly Petrov - Barwa Addax - 1'45"720
Davide Valsecchi - Durango - 1'45"748
Pastor Maldonado - ART - 1'45"755
Roldan Rodriguez - Piquet GP - 1'45"767
Alvaro Parente - Meritus - 1'45"816
Yelmer Buurman - Ocean - 1'45"954
Davide Rigon - Trident - 1'45"978
Luiz Razia - Arden - 1'45"989
Rodolfo Gonzalez - FMSI - 1'46"053
Sakon Yamamoto - ART - 1'46"087
Giedo Van der Garde - iSport - 1'46"105
Fabrizio Crestani - Ocean - 1'46"108
Sergio Perez - Barwa Addex - 1'46"169
Edoardo Mortara - Arden - 1'46"184
Michael Herck - DPR - 1'46"259
Hamad Al Fardan - iSport - 1'46"265
Marco Bonanomi - Meritus - 1'46"315
Giacomo Ricci - DPR - 1'46"604
Ricardo Teixeira - Trident - 1'47"838
Kevin Nai Chia Chen - FMSI - 1'49"642
Michael Dalle Stelle - Durango - 1'49"857

[Shaddix]

wuhuuw, go Jerome!

[OJB]

http://www.crash.net/GP2/Results/144..._result_1.html
1. Diego Nunes Piquet 33 laps 1hr 00m 46.668s
2. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS +08.361s
3. James Jakes Super Nova +09.150s
4. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet GP +13.874s
5. Yelmer Buurman Ocean +16.805s
6. Vitaly Petrov Campos +41.457s
7. Pastor Maldonado ART +42.007s
8. Davide Valsecchi Durango +42.381s

9. Hamad Al Fardan iSport +51.152s
10. Rodolfo Gonzalez FMSI +53.240s
11. Alvaro Parente Qi-Meritus +54.435s
12. Sakon Yamamoto ART +59.958s
13. Michael Herck DPR +61.473s
14. Giedo van der Garde iSport +62.518s
15. Fabrizio Crestani Ocean +71.958s
16. Giacomo Ricci DPR +94.318s
17. Ricardo Teixiera Trident +110.428s
18. Michael Dalle Steele Durango +111.455s
19. Javier Villa Super Nova +1 lap
20 Kevin Nai Chia Chen FMSI +1 lap

Rtd Marco Bonanomi Qi- Meritus 10 laps completed
Rtd Sergio Perez Campos 10 laps completed
Rtd Luiz Razia Arden 10 laps completed
Rtd Edoardo Mortara Arden 10 laps completed
Rtd Jérôme d'Ambrosio DAMS 10 laps completed
Rtd Davide Rigon Trident 10 laps completed

Nunes won quite easily apparently - a very good result for him and the team, especially in the feature race. d'Ambrosio had a problem and didn't make the start.

[Spudy]

Wow, I'm sure iSport will have a few smiles on their faces.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by OJB

Nunes won quite easily apparently - a very good result for him and the team, especially in the feature race. d'Ambrosio had a problem and didn't make the start.

Yes I caught a bit of the race before F1 qualy and the start was a bit of a mess which helped Nunes and then he simply built up a little gap and controlled it from there really.

Both Super Nova drivers were slow away, looked like Villa didn't even make the first turn?

The resulting jumble up led to a few bumps between 1 and 2 including Parente running into the back of one of the ART cars and Perex and Al Fardan appearing in the top 10 from way back by the end of the first lap!!

Nunes, Jakes, Buurman and Al Fardan very impressive, Maldonado, Petrov and Parente not so?

With at least 3 strong showings from hiterhto struggling drivers I felt a separate discussion is warranted see:
http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114712

[Suze]

Was this repeated on Eurosport? Tried to watch it at 12.30 but all I could find was football

[gomick]

Dont know how close the race was but the top 22 in qualifying where within 1 second - that is very impressive...

[chunterer]

Eurosport appear to be showing both races at least twice?

I caught race two straight after the Le Mans series Barca action.

Race 2 a little more interesting than the first I reckon?

Safety car start due to the appalling conditions. Vitaly Petrov had one of his 'on' days seeing off Davide Valsecchi and Pastor Maldonado in fairly convincing fashion, although he did appear to fade towards the end.

Maldonado was quite racey after the SC pulled off but must have rooted his tyres as had no answer to Petrov.

Diego Nunes was again quite impressive for 4th ahead of Hamad Al Fardan, (ditto) whilst
Segio Perez nicked 6th from Kamui Kobayashi out of the last turn on the final lap having started 22nd!!!

Kamui thus unable to sew up the championship today after all, he'll have to wait until Bahrain although he still has a handy point lead.

Valsecchi will need to effectively dominate in Bahrain.

On a different note, there was a scary moment when D'Ambrosio nearly knocked a few marshalls flying when they were tending to a stricken DPR car. Yellow flags were waving but I guess Jerome will argue it was difficult to see anything until the last moment, I don't know.....

[gomick]

Noticed that there had been 7 different winners in the 9 races this season

Think Kamui Kobayashi has 9.5 fingers on the title...

Points after Sepang...

1. Kamui Kobayashi - 47
2. Davide Valsecchi - 34
3. Vitaly Petrov - 28
4. Roldan Rodriguez - 27
5. Sergio Perez - 26
6. Nico Hulkenberg - 25
7. Jerome d'Ambrosio - 23

[chunterer]

Ta Gomick!

[Shaddix]

d'Ambrosio got a DQ for his action

I've got a movie of it on my blog: click

[Mekola]

About Jakes, he should have got 7 points, not 6. He finished 3rd and did the fastest lap on Race 1 within the top 10 finishers.

[Mekola]

Originally Posted by Shaddix

d'Ambrosio got a DQ for his action

I've got a movie of it on my blog: click

I see... he'd almost hit the marshals, like Maldonado in that unfortunate Montecarlo WSR race...