Kobayashi leads DAMS one-two
Kamui Kobayashi extended his GP2 Asia points lead by leading a DAMS one-two in the first race in Bahrain
Pole-sitter Nico Hulkenberg (ART) had led the early laps on his GP2 debut, but had Kobayashi glued to his rear wing and constantly looking for an opportunity to pass.
The Toyota Formula One test driver finally dived past his Williams counterpart on the 13th lap, and was then able to edge away.
Hulkenberg made his mandatory pitstop soon afterwards, and lost more ground due to an issue with a wheel change.
That allowed Kobayashi's DAMS teammate Jerome D'Ambrosio to emerge in second place, having earlier muscled his way past Edoardo Mortara's Arden car to take third as they lapped a backmarker.
Mortara held on to the final podium spot, under pressure from the recovering Hulkenberg, and with Davide Valsecchi (Durango) chasing them both home.
A few seconds behind, Piquet driver Roldan Rodriguez fended off iSport's Giedo van der Garde to take sixth, just ahead of Sergio Perez (Campos).
The race saw relatively little incident, but there was early disappointment for top ten qualifiers Sakon Yamamoto (ART) and Marco Bonanomi (Meritus), who both stalled on the grid.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1h00:10.318
2. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS + 5.892
3. Edoardo Mortara Arden + 18.570
4. Nico Hulkenberg ART + 19.436
5. Davide Valsecchi Durango + 20.368
6. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet + 24.076
7. Giedo van der Garde iSport + 24.748
8. Sergio Perez Barwa Campos + 27.462
9. Javier Villa Super Nova + 30.687
10. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Campos + 36.702
11. Earl Bamber Qi-Meritus + 38.042
12. Hamad Al Fardan iSport + 51.424
13. Diego Nunes Piquet + 55.560
14. Luiz Razia Arden + 1:06.976
15. Frankie Provenzano Trident + 1:14.584
16. Rodolfo Gonzalez FMS + 1:18.339
17. Sakon Yamamoto ART + 1:18.391
18. Michael Herck DPR + 1:18.559
19. Michael Dalle Stelle Durango + 1:46.185
20. Marco Bonanomi Qi-Meritus + 1 lap
21. Kevin Nai Chia Chen FMS + 2 laps
22. James Jakes Super Nova + 3 laps
Retirements:
Driver Team Laps
Giacomo Ricci DPR 21
Adrian Valles Trident 13
Fabrizio Crestani Ocean 0
Yelmer Buurman Ocean 0
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