The DAMS GP2 team claimed the GP2 Asia title this winter. In the upcoming weekend the team will aim for the top again with GP2 Asia champion Kamui Kobayashi and team-mate Jerome d’Ambrosio. At Circuit de Catalunya the team hopes to see its drivers on the podium again. DAMS Team Principal Jean-Paul Driot is glad to continue with both of its drivers: “The mutual trust that is built up over time between a team and its drivers is crucial to achieve the very high technical and mental levels necessary for success. The stability with Jérôme d’Ambrosio and Kamui Kobayashi for the GP2 Main Series Championship is great news for DAMS, whose aim is to fight for the title in 2009.” Kamui Kobayashi commented on the upcoming GP2 season: “2008 was a learning season. Today, we’re getting down to the nitty gritty. In the light of my performances in the Asian GP2 Series this winter, I’ve got great hopes and I want to fight for the title this year. DAMS’s professionalism makes it the ideal squad to orchestrate such a campaign. The fact that we’ve been together for over a year is an additional strength.”
Fourth place in the race was all Kamui Kobayashi needed to take the title in Bahrain on Saturday after his main championship rivals had dropped out of contention. On a weekend where the Toyota F1 team claimed its first one-two on the grid, their Japanese test driver was delighted to have claimed the GP2 Asia series title for the DAMS team.
“I am not one to feel pressure, because otherwise I may not be as competitive,” the Kamui said, who won two races en route to the Asia title. “But it is true that I felt some pressure in Shanghai because I was quickest the week before - during the test on that same track - and then it was not so good. I was second in qualifying and that was a big shock as we thought we would be on pole position easily, but it was Rodriguez who was quickest. However, starting from P2, I knew I still had the chance to win the race. I made a good start, pushed and took the lead, but then I made a mistake in the last stages which was another big shock! I told myself that I would never make that mistake again.”
Kobayashi’s next target is the GP2 main series title. Despite that low moment, Kobayashi clinched the title with a race to spare at the weekend, with the battle for runner-up spot being decided on Sunday. “I was leading the championship by then, and that’s when I felt another wave of pressure because I realised that I could really do it,” he recalled. “I should get as many points as possible in order to win the championship. Mistakes were not an option at that point otherwise it would have been too difficult to come back.
“I made it. DAMS did an amazing job in the Asia Series and it puts us in a really good position for the main series. This is really incredible and I am very, very happy. Of course, I’m disappointed to have finished fourth when I started from pole position, but I have achieved my goal - I’m champion!”