DAMS Nurburgring Event Summary

Romain Grosjean and DAMS make the break!

DAMS and its team leader had a very fruitful weekend in Germany. A victory and a podium finish enabled them to make the break in the championship (Grosjean is now 18 points in front of Van der Garde). The fact that their main rivals had a poor weekend was also a help.

Romain Grosjean already had a pretty successful race on Saturday. He started from third on the grid and lost a place to Bianchi at the start. After that a very consistent performance allied to a superb pit stop put him back on the third step of the podium. Pal Varhaug's race ended after only a few metres in a collision with Mirocha.

On Sunday, the start was given on a damp track and Grosjean, made a cautious start from sixth place. He then pulled back places very quickly helped by mistakes made by his direct rivals, Sam Bird and Guido Van der Garde. The race boiled down to a three-handed scrap between the DAMS driver, Bianchi and Filippi. After changing from rain tyres to slicks they were running wheel-to-wheel. On the second last lap, Grosjean took advantage of a slight error by Bianchi in the last chicane to take the lead and score his fourth win of the season - a stunning performance. DAMS's new Norwegian recruit drove a hard-charging race, and got as high as seventh at one moment but fell back down the order after his tyres went off.

Romain Grosjean celebrates his victory on the podium

Photo by: GP2 Media Service

Loďc David, General Manager: "A big bravo to the whole team, in particular for Sunday's victory. We had a good first race helped by a clever, well-executed strategy. On Sunday, the car was well set up, which wasn't obvious in the changing conditions. And of course, Romain's talent and race craft made the difference!"

Romain Grosjean

Main race: P3
Sprint: P1

"This victory feels really good! Yesterday, if I‘d started from pole, which was possible, we could have won. Today it was just sheer pleasure. It was very close at the end, but when I saw the opening in the chicane I went for it! My thanks to the whole team who did a super job. We've opened up a lead in the championship, and we have to continue the good work in Hungary before the August holiday break."

Pal Varhaug

Main race: Rtd
Sprint: P17

"A very tough race. I've never really liked the Nürburgring, but I'm partly to blame for Saturday's collision. Today, we bet on the rain coming back at the end of the race and I stayed on wet weather tyres till the flag. This helped me pull back places in the middle of the event, but at the end my tyres were completely shot. I hope that Lady Luck will smile on me in Budapest!"

Next races: Hungaroring (Hungary) 30-31 July.

by: DAMS