Valsecchi and DAMS earn 2012 title in race 1 at Singapore

Davide Valsecchi campionissimo with DAMS!

They did it! Davide Valsecchi and DAMS arrived in Singapore in a strong position after their Monza victory. They did not falter and the Italian's fourth place in the first heat in front of his nearest rival gave him the 2012 GP2 crown. This means that DAMS has retained the title it won in 2011 with Romain Grosjean. The French squad is still in first place in the teams' ratings after another sensational fight back by Felipe Nasr from thirteenth to sixth place!

Singapore, however, didn't get off to the best of starts with free practice perturbed by rain and a few setup glitches for the DAMS cars. But things more or less fell back into place in qualifying, for Davide anyway, as he set the sixth-quickest time three places in front of his title rival, Luis Razia. Nasr's final flying lap was thwarted by a red flag that brought the session to an end, and he was unable to improve on his thirteenth time just when he looked on course to do so.

Valsecchi was very concentrated and made a good start avoiding any contact with the other cars on a track where this type of thing can easily happen. After an excellent pit stop he continued to progress in methodical fashion and nursed his tyres. Towards the end of the race Razia caught him as the Italian was held up by Luca Fillipi. But Davide used all his experience and his racing skills to open up the gap again and take fourth place - good enough for the title!

Felipe lost a few places in the jockeying for position in the first few corners. He then pulled off another of his spectacular comebacks highlighted by a thrilling double overtaking manoeuvre! His sixth place has helped DAMS to maintain a 2-point lead over Lotus GP in the battle for the teams' crown. The final race, tomorrow, will be the theatre of a thrilling scrap.

Jean-Paul Driot, CEO: "It's fantastic! My heartiest congratulations to the whole team and to Davide. They've put on a brilliant consistent performance since the start of the season and they've remained calm and tightly-knit when the going got rough. Keeping a title is a rare exploit in GP2 and we've had some very tough rivals. This crown rewards all the work we've put in and confirms, after Romain Grosjean's victory last year, that DAMS is a great team. With Felipe's incredible talent and Davide's determination to reward everybody we'll try and add the cherry on this magnificent cake tomorrow!"

Davide Valsecchi: "It's just unbelievable! I'm so so happy. We've had a great season and the car was competitive almost everywhere. In the key moments neither DAMS nor I made any mistakes. With four victories, ten podiums and six fastest laps we've shown that we're the best. So tomorrow I'm determined to thank the whole squad by clinching the teams' title."

Felipe Nasr: "It's a pity that the red flag at the end of qualifying prevented me from starting higher up the grid. The car was very quick and the team carried out a great pit stop at the right moment. Starting from third place tomorrow I'm going to try and score that victory which will give the team the title; it'd be a great reward for them."

Last race in 2012: Singapore, Sunday 23rd September.

Source: DAMS