Rookie Romain Grosjean ignored the cranes littering the Dubai Autodrome horizon to claim victory in the inaugural GP2 Asia Series race after cruising away from the rest of the field.
Starting from pole position, the Frenchman made a solid getaway to fend off the attentions of Bruno Senna and Andy Soucek, and then benefited as the Brazilian and Spaniard embarked on a race-long scrap for the runner-up spot. Immediately able to pull out a couple of seconds over the pack, the reigning F3 Euroseries champion was in a class of his own, even able to up his game when anyone threatened to snatch the point for fastest lap.
Grosjean's dominance, however, meant that attention switched elsewhere during the 42 laps, with the battle between Senna and Soucek the main focus for much of the race. Although the iSport driver made the better start from the front row, Soucek was quickly on his tail and took advantage of a slight slip on the opening lap to steal second place. Although Senna tried to retaliate, Soucek held firm - just as he would for the majority of the distance.
The Spaniard's resistance could not last forever, though, and, having proven the stronger combination through the final corner and down the long main straight, Soucek's DPR car eventually succumbed to the pressure with four laps to run, running wide in turn one and allowing Senna to close, the Brazilian drawing alongside a couple of turns later to make the move stick around the outside.
Whatever Soucek's problems - and it was a toss-up between tyres and brakes - he almost fell victim to Adrian Valles in the closing stages, but managed to hold firm to add another podium to the brace he and DPR took at the tail-end of 2007. Valles, after a relatively quiet comeback to GP2, had to settle for a close fourth, but either position could have gone to both Luca Filippi and Karun Chandhok had they enjoyed better races.
![Romain Grosjean - ART Grand Prix [pic credit: GP2 Series]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/404017.jpg)
