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Saturday, 26 January 2008 |
The DAMS team did not manage to score any points in the Sprint race, the second
event held on the Dubai circuit in the opening round of the Asian GP2
Championship. Jérôme d’Ambrosio again showed his fighting spirit: 21st on the
grid yesterday the Belgian finished the first race in 11th place and that was
where he started today. He clawed his way up through the field and saw the flag
in 8th spot. His team-mate, Kamui Kobayashi, was less fortunate: he was the
innocent victim of a collision a few hundred metres after the start and had to
retire.
Despite not coming away with any points the DAMS team’s motivation and optimism
are intact. It was the two drivers’ GP2 baptism, and they made almost no
mistakes showing both steadiness and consistency. In addition, the mechanics and
engineers made a big step forward in preparing and setting up the cars since the
previous week’s testing. Everything looks like it’s now in place to enable the
team to score points in the co ming events.
Eric Boullier, team manager:
“It’s never very pleasant to leave a circuit on which our performance hasn’t
lived up to our expectations. Overall, though, it’s been an encouraging weekend
for the DAMS team. First of all, both our drivers have had their first taste of
a race in the GP2 Championship. Secondly, they’ve shown that despite a difficult
qualifying session, they were able to climb back up though the field: Jérôme
pulled back thirteen places in the course of both races, while Kamui moved up
eleven yesterday. He looked like he was going to make another good comeback
today until he was involved in a collision. This event’s been a good general
rehearsal for us, and our aim in three weeks’ time will be to open our score in
the championship.”
Kamui Kobayashi: retired: “I made an excellent start
and passed a few cars, but unfortunately, my race was over just afterwards due
to a collision. It’s frustrating as my aim was to score some points today and
that was well within my capabilities. It’s just a ! minor hi tch. In Indonesia,
we’ll be back on the pace thanks to the level of preparation of the cars, the
team’s professionalism and our will to win.”
Jérôme d’Ambrosio, 8th: “I
could have scored my first points today but my car lacked just that little bit
of top speed to enable me to challenge for sixth place. I finished eighth,
which, given my position on the gird, is pretty encouraging. Even if the final
result’s a bit disappointing, the test days and the two races on the Dubai
circuit have helped me to understand the car’s characteristics better, and also
to really get to know the team. I was third on the final test day and without a
technical problem in qualifying my weekend would have been better. I still feel
confident and I’m ready to really go for it in Indonesia.”
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