Romain Grosjean scored his first win in the GP2 Asia Series opening. He is now leading the championship in front of Bruno Senna and Andy Soucek.

The French driver achieved a stellar debut in the GP2 Asia Series: after he snatched pole position this morning, Romain Grosjean managed to lead the first race and cross the finish line in first place, also taking the lead of the Championship. Behind the RDD driver, Bruno Senna and Andy Soucek offered the crowd a great show: the Spaniard overtook the Brazilian in the first lap.

Then, the iSport man constantly put pressure on the DPR driver. Both men came into mid-race and resumed there positions.  While  Soucek  was  struggling  with  the  tyres,  Senna  never  gave up and finally overtook the  Spaniard  with  four  laps  to  go.  Bruno  Senna  then  set  the  fastest  lap  time,  but  Grosjean  was already too far away.

A  little  further  down  the  pack,  Adrian  Valles  and  the  two Qi-Meritus boys, Luca Filippi and Hiroki Yoshimoto, made their way to the top 6, while Karun Chandhok and Fairuz Fauzy took 7th and 8th place synonym of a 100% Asian driver first row for tomorrow’s race. The second race of the GP2 Asia Series will take place tomorrow at 1pm, local time. Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix): “This is amazing: pole position and win on my first GP2 race ever. If I had set the fastest lap time it would have been perfect, but to be completely honest, I’m more than happy. I made a good start and then I tried to keep a good pace. We managed to do a clean pit-stop – also my very first. I’m really thankful to the team.

Tomorrow, Starting from the 8th position will be completely different. I am learning and I take it step by step.” Bruno Senna (iSport International): “As I was on the dirty part of the track, I didn’t make a good start, and then I was too slow in the first lap. Andy took this opportunity to overtake me. Tomorrow, I’ll have to warm up my tyres better… Then, Soucek and I had a great fight. It’s too bad I overtook him so late: even though I had the pace, Grosjean was to far away by then.” 

Andy Soucek (DPR): “Ever since this morning, we have a really good pace and I knew I could fight for the win. I could pass Senna in the first lap and then I tried to catch up with Grosjean, but Bruno pressured me and I spent a lot of time checking my mirrors and fighting back. Towards the end, I was struggling with my tyres… I’m still very happy and I’ll keep on pushing tomorrow.”