Although there had to be a 'loser', neither Bruno Senna or Andy Soucek could be disappointed with their performance in the opening round of the new GP2 Asia Series in Dubai.
Starting respectively second and third on the grid, the pair battled mightily through the entire 42-lap distance, with the Brazilian only regaining his place and pulling away in the final few tours.
Soucek started the day on a good footing by being quickest during the morning warm-up, and again led the way in qualifying until both Romain Grosjean and Senna managed to pip him in the closing minutes of the half-hour session. As the lights went out to start the first ever GP2 Asia race, however, the Spaniard made a strong getaway to pressure Senna, before pulling off an impressive move down the inside of the Brazilian into the third corner.
The iSport driver was not about to give up quietly, however, and Soucek had to battle hard to keep Senna at bay. Pitting a few laps after the Brazilian put pressure on the DPR crew to get him back out in front, but a faultless stop appeared to have given Soucek the edge, especially as Senna appeared to have no answer to the DPR car's pace down the main straight.
Despite pulling out a lead of over three seconds, however, traffic and tyre wear eventually allowed Senna to close back in and, with 38 laps in the books, a slight error into turn one allowed the Brazilian to get a run on Soucek into the next few corners. Once the inevitable had happened - with the iSport car taking second around the
outside of the hairpin - Senna pulled away, leaving Soucek nursing his rear tyres as he came under threat from Adrian Valles in the closing laps.
“It was a good podium, with Andy having been on the pace all week," DPR team boss David Price insisted, "Qualifying up front was a step forward as that's where we
were struggling last season, so all the work over the winter has paid off with the result today. We're anticipating maintaining this level of performance."
![Andy Soucek (DPR) leads Bruno Senna (iSport) in the battle for second in Dubai [pic credit: GP2 Series]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/404211.jpg)
