Davide Valsecchi of Italy (iSport) scored his third win of the season to become GP2 Asia series champion in Bahrain at the weekend. Valsecchi won Friday’s 34-lap feature race around the 5,4-km Al Sakhir circuit to wrap up the championship won in 2008 by Romain Grosjean and last year by Kamui Kobayashi. South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg (Trident Racing) was eighth after starting from 18th on the grid in his first GP2 race since 2007.
With one round remaining, at Al Sakhir alongside the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix on March 12 to 14, the Italian has an unbeatable lead in the drivers’ championship with 45 points, ahead of countryman Giacamo Ricci (DPR) on 19 points and Briton Oliver Turvey (iSport) on 17.
French rookie Charles Pic (Arden) won Saturday’s 23-lap sprint race after passing polesitter Zaugg on lap 4. The South African then came under attack from Ricci and Jules Bianchi of France (ART), with all three cars side-by-side through the last corner, down the long straight and into turn 1. Zaugg and Bianchi made contact, leaving Ricci free to chase after Pic. Zaugg dropped back to finish 19th, a lap down, while Bianchi finished four laps behind the leaders.
Former A1 Team South Africa driver Zaugg, 23, was happy with his GP2 comeback. “The deal with Trident represents a great opportunity for me and I’m grateful to my sponsors and supporters for this chance. Considering the fact that we had only 30 minutes of practice before qualifying, I’m happy with our performance this weekend. The team did a great job on the car and it was
quick in both races. I was confident of a podium finish in the sprint race, so it was a shame we tangled with Bianchi. Although I haven’t raced for some time, I never stopped my training and I’m in good shape. It felt good to be back behind the wheel and I’m looking forward to the next race.”
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