The DAMS team had a great weekend in Italy crowned by a superb victory in the second heat by its team leader. It helped Davide Valsecchi to extend his lead over his only remaining title challenger, Luiz Razia, to 25 points before the final round of the 2012 championship in Singapore. DAMS has also retaken the lead in the teams’ classification by two points. The only blot on an otherwise quasi-perfect performance was the fact that Lady Luck seems to have deserted Felipe Nasr, who again ran into mechanical problems.
The French team showed that it was in fighting form in free practice run in blazing sunshine as Felipe Nasr set the second-quickest time. This was confirmed in qualifying when Valsecchi clinched fourth place on the grid. Nasr looked like he was going to go even quicker, but stopped by gearbox problems he could do no better than tenth.
The first race, which was a bit wild, saw the DAMS leader take the flag in sixth place. His steadiness al lied to the mistakes of his closest rivals put Davide back in the championship lead. Nasr collided with Leimer and retired.
On Sunday morning Valsecchi made a dream start in front of his home crowd from the second row and slipped between Joylon Palmer and Stefano Coletti to take the lead under braking for the Rettifilo chicane. He went on to score a crucial victory, which could prove decisive in the battle for the 2012 title, as well as setting the fastest lap. As Razia again failed to score the Italian is ideally placed before the final round in Singapore in two weeks’ time.
Jean-Paul Driot, CEO: “Work always pays off and again I’d like to congratulate the whole DAMS team. Davide was remarkable and he now has to clinch it in the final round of the season. But I’m very disappointed for Felipe who again showed just how quick he is. He is currently dogged by bad luck, and I sincerely hope that things will start to go his way and th at he’ll score the victory he deserves.”
Davide Valsecchi: “It’s fantastic! I can’t tell you how happy I am to win here at Monza in front of my home crowd. I want to thank the whole team for preparing such a great car for me. I’ve opened up a good lead for the title, but it’s not over yet and there are still a lot of points up for grabs. I’m going to stay concentrated and give my all to win this championship and offer DAMS another title!”
Felipe Nasr: “The weekend got off to a good start in free practice. But then it started to go wrong with the gearbox problems in qualifying. And on Sunday starting from the back of the grid turned the race into a lottery and it all went wrong in the first corner. It’s a real pity and I hope to have better luck in Singapore.”
Next rendezvous: Singapore 22-23 September 2012