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GP2 Asia Series, Sentul, Race 2 |
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Sunday, 17 February 2008 |
Today the DAMS Team competed in the second race of the Indonesian round of the
GP2 Championship on the Sentul circuit. Jérôme D’Ambrosio and Kamui Kobayashi,
who both had a hard day yesterday, started from 15th and 23rd positions on the
grid. The field set off behind the safety car because of the difficult weather
conditions. The race itself was marked by numerous neutralisations.
Kamui’s only hope of scoring points was to take a gamble so the Japanese driver
shod dry weather tyres hoping the shower would soon cease and that track
conditions would evolve. Unfortunately, the rain did not stop until 3 laps from
the finish, and he saw the flag in 15th place. Jérôme was no luckier than on
Saturday. The Belgian driver could only manage a handful of laps until his
gearbox gave up the ghost and he had to retire.
The team returns to
Europe disappointed at not having scored any points but there are still 6 races
to go, and it is optimistic for the rest of the championship. The next round of
the Asian GP2 Series will take place on 22nd/23rd March as a supporting event
for the Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Eric Boullier, team manager:
“Leaving Sentul without scoring points was not what we were aiming for. We did
our very best to try and cope with a track that was very hard on cars in
addition to the difficult weather conditions and erratic reliability. Kamui’s
weekend was spoilt by an overheating issue for which the team was not
responsible; it was not solved until Saturday evening. As for Jérôme he ran into
transmission problems on 2 occasions. Despite this disappointing result I’d like
to congratulate the team for all its hard work in Sentul. I’m convinced that our
efforts will pay off in Malaysia.”
Kamui Kobayashi
23rd on the
grid
15th at the finish
“This morning the overheating problem that had
afflicted my car all weekend was finally fixed. Unfortunately, I had to start
from 23rd place on the grid and my chances of scoring points were almost
non-existent unless I took a gamble. So we decided to start of dry weather
tyres, and it would have paid off if the track conditions had improved more
quickly. We’ve been very unlucky this weekend, and we’ll soon forget Sentul to
concentrate all the better on the rest of the championship.”
Jérôme
d’Ambrosio
15 on the grid
Retired
“Short is the best adjective to
describe my race today. After starting behind the safety car I was able to cover
only a handful of laps before my gearbox got stuck in neutral. It’s frustrating,
but I still have absolute confidence in both my capacities and those of the
team. I’m sure that when we have a weekend without mechanical problems we’ll be
fighting at the front. I hope that I’ve used up my share of bad luck and the aim
is to restart the season on the right foot in Malaysia in a few weeks time.”
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