Two races and two retirements at Valencia's Circuit Ricardo Tormo brought the curtain down on a disappointing debut season in the GP2 Series for Christian Bakkerud, the Dane again the victim of his rivals rather than inexperience.
With only 19 laps of the campaign remaining, the DPR driver was rudely assaulted by an over-enthusiastic Mikhail Aleshin, pitching him into the gravel trap and out of the race. The incident followed an equally short Saturday race, where Bakkerud was punted out by series veteran Xandi Negrao.
“Well, that just sums up my whole season because I have had absolutely no luck," the Dane sighed, "I was driving reasonably well, having made up six or so places in the opening ten laps, when Aleshin tried a ridiculous move. What is so frustrating is that, for the fourth race in a row, I have been hit from behind by a competitor. I'd made up nine places in nine laps on Saturday when I was unceremoniously taken out by Negrao - it sums up my luck this year."
Bakkerud admitted that the troubled season that the entire DPR squad had endured until recently had contributed to the problems he has faced in the races.
"They occur through all of the technical problems which we have had in qualifying, resulting in a climb back through in the field in race one and the attendant risks associated with that," he sighed, "With the grid for race two decided by the race one result, you end up in the same situation again and the whole weekend becomes a disaster.”
The team made an uncharacteristic mistake in the set-up of the Dane's car for qualifying in Valencia and sent him out with the wrong damper settings, making the car undriveable and leaving the hapless driver 26th on the grid.
“Sunday morning's warm-up session was an eye-opener because, with the correct set-up, I was easily able to run in the top ten up to the point where I pitted," he reflected, "It shows that, when I am given a decent car, I can produce the goods.”
![Christian Bakkerud - David Price Racing [pic credit: GP2 Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/382619.jpg)
