Grosjean proves he is a class apart

Dubai: Swiss ace Romain Grosjean of the ART Grand Prix team alienated himself from the rest of the pack with a second straight win in as many races at the GP2 Asia Series of the Dubai Grand Racing at the Dubai Autodrome on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Swiss-born lad, who competes under a French racing licence, proved he is a class apart as he finished at the top of the podium for the second time in as many days to take a healthy lead in the overall standings.

Malaysia's Fairuz Fauzy of the Super Nova Racing team, who had a creditable ninth on the first day, led for more than half the race before giving way to the pace of Grosjean. India's Karun Chandhok of the iSport International team did well to overcome a haphazard start with clutch problems, before settling into third place to get his first podium for the season.

Puncture

Two strong finishes at the end of this weekend puts Grosjean at the top of the drivers' championship with 19 points, followed by iSport's Bruno Senna in second overall with nine points and a bunch of four tied for third with six points each.

In Friday's 42-lap race, Grosjean had done well to lead from start to finish and take maximum points ahead of iSport's Bruno Senna and Andy Soucek of the DPR team.

Senna was out with a punctured tyre, while Soucek struggled in the traffic before finishing in seventh.

Luca Filippi of the Qi-Meritus Mahara team, who had finished fifth on Friday, was among the early retirees from the seven who stopped.

With many of the strong contenders out of the way, it was a completely different tale for Grosjean as he found himself starting in an unfamiliar eighth place on the grid.

Distracted

However he managed to work his way up on sheer power and by the 17th of the total 28 laps, he was in total control.

"The car has been superb. There has been so much of pace in it.

"We've tried something new to get the tyres warmed up early and that has worked well for us so far," Grosjean smiled.

Taking off from pole position, Fauzi seemed to be in control.

But the second appearance of the safety car midway through the race sort of got him distracted as he saw a much faster Grosjean slip past, never to look behind. Chandhok had his fair share of problems too.

His clutch gave way at the start and then he had problems with the gear shifting towards the end.

"We could have pushed and gone for a second place, but I started having problems while shifting from the second to the third gear," Chandhok stated.

The next round of the brand-new GP2 Asia Series will be held at the Sentul Circuit in Indonesia on February 16-17.

Results

1. Romain Grosjean/ART Grand Prix (43:32.991);
2. Fairuz Fauzy/Super Nova Racing (43:36.769);
3. Karun Chandhok/iSport International (43:38.965);
4. Hiroki Yoshimoto/Qi-Meritus Mahara (43:45.138);
5. A. Valerio/Durango (43:45.845).

Overall positions at the end of the first round:

1. Romain Grosjean/ART Grand Prix (19pts)
2. Bruno Senna/iSport International (9)
3. Fairuz Fauzy/Super Nova Racing (6)
3. Karun Chandhok/iSport International (6)
3. Andy Soucek/DPR (6)
3. Hiroki Yoshimoto/Qi-Meritus Mahara
7. A. Valles/Fisichella Motorsport International(5)
8. Luca Filippi/Qi-Meritus Mahara (4)
9. A. Valerio/Durango (2)
10. D. Valsecchi/Durango (1).

Team work pays off

Swiss driver Romain Grosjean has put his two wins in as many races down to team work and some minor innovations carried out over a period of time. "Every driver comes to a race to win it, and I too came with the expectation that I would finish on the podium," Grosjean admitted. "Then over the four days of testing I saw that the car had good pace and everything seemed to be working well for us as a team," he stated.

Grosjean was the dominant driver on all days of testing. But after finding something different in the car, the driver knew that they will be the team to beat. "It is going to be different from now on as we are up there in front. Now we have to do something different as we know that we have that extra pace," Grosjean stated.

So strong has been his performance that the Swiss driver has shown that there is something different about him as a competitor. "But it is so much of a learning process as this is a new series. The car is new, the staff is new, the engines are new, everything is new," Grosjean stated.