Bonanomi wins Asian series finale
Italy's Marco Bonanomi won the final round of the GP2 Asia Series at Dubai Autodrome, overcoming numerous challenges to take the victory
The Piquet Sports driver was only third on the opening lap, but leader Milos Pavlovic (BCN), who led from pole position, was forced out after a handful of corners with a dead engine. That handed the lead to Jerome d'Ambrosio of DAMS, but he ran wide at Turn 6 on lap two, allowing Bonanomi to hit the front.
Bonanomi built up a 1.8-second lead over Sebastien Buemi (Arden), who had also moved past d'Ambrosio, but that was negated by the safety car, which was called up to remove the cars of Alberto Valerio, Ben Hanley and Armaan Ebrahim.
At the restart, Buemi understeered wide at the final corner, allowed Bonanomi to escape. He re-established his lead at 2.6 seconds before Buemi's understeering car began to handle more to his liking.
Buemi closed the gap over the closing laps, but was never close enough to pass. He finished just half a second behind Bonanomi, who scored his first success at this level.
Buemi was always conscious of where Vitaly Petrov was placed, as the Russian was fighting him for second in the championship. But when Petrov's fuel pump failed, Buemi just had to bring the car home in the points to clinch the position.
D'Ambrosio finished third, ahead of Davide Valsecchi, although the latter's pass on Ho-Pin Tung with six laps to go appeared to be under yellow flags.
Behind fifth-placed Tung, the final point was claimed by Yelmer Buurman, making it another double points haul for Arden.
Yesterday's pace-setter Bruno Senna could only finish 12th after a busy race that featured much contact in the midfield, while champion Romain Grosjean crashed out during a battle with Petrov.Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Marco Bonanomi Piquet Sports 45:08.527
2. Sebastien Buemi Trust Team Arden + 0.516
3. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS + 5.361
4. Davide Valsecchi Durango + 8.445
5. Ho-Pin Tung Trident Racing + 11.905
6. Yelmer Buurman Trust Team Arden + 12.550
7. Fairuz Fauzy Super Nova Racing + 12.836
8. Harold Schlegelmilch Trident Racing + 14.306
9. Jason Tahinci BCN Competicion + 15.948
10. Christian Bakkerud Super Nova Racing + 16.474
11. Adrian Valles FMS International + 16.934
12. Bruno Senna iSport International + 17.214
13. Diego Nunes DPR + 18.895
14. Hiroki Yoshimoto Qi-Meritus.Mahara + 22.225
15. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS + 26.212
16. Alberto Valerio Durango + 1 lap
Not classified:
Driver Team Laps
Vitaly Petrov Barwa Campos Team 17
Roldan Rodriguez FMS International 13
Romain Grosjean ART Grand Prix 10
Karun Chandhok iSport International 5
Armaan Ebrahim DPR 4
Benjamin Hanley Barwa Campos Team 4
Marcello Puglisi Piquet Sports 2
Milos Pavlovic BCN Competicion 0
Luca Filippi Qi-Meritus.Mahara 0
Fastest lap: Kobayashi, 1:41.220, on lap 22
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