Dillmann triumphed in a thrilling GP2 Sprint to mark the completion of round three in the 2012 season. It was also the end of back-to-back weekends of superb GP2 action at “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East” in Sakhir.
Dillmann’s brilliant pole-to-flag victory came following a thrilling battle against Luiz Razia over the race’s final few laps. Razia appeared marginally faster than Dillmann on the straights but the eventual victor did well to defend his lead and Razia could not find even the slightest of openings to overtake.
The French GP2 rookie thus claimed his maiden triumph at the GP2 level. It was also the first win for Rapax Team this season.
Meanwhile, Tim Birkin claimed a fantastic double in the BIC 2,000cc Challenge, which was holding its seventh and final round of the 2011/2012 campaign in support of the GP2 stars.
Birkin triumphed after a pair of heated battles in both the day’s races.
Despite not starting Saturday’s second event, Stephen Kellogg was crowned the season’s overall drivers’ champion.
In Saturday’s exciting GP2 Sprint Race, pole-sitter Tom Dillmann of Rapax came away with a fantastic victory despite immense pressure from his closest rivals behind him.
Dillmann managed to keep away from danger on a turn one incident which cut a few other competitors’ runs short. He enjoyed a trouble-free drive for much of the 23-lap event, but over the race’s closing stages began to lose pace and Razia came charging from behind to challenge for the lead.
Dillmann didn’t allow the pressure to get the better of him despite Razia coming dangerously close to upsetting the leader. He managed to hold off Razia’s intense challenge and claim his maiden GP2 victory in a time of 41m 16.276s, just 0.198s ahead of Razia.
Davide Valsecchi of DAMS finished in third place 3.958s behind. The Italian’s race classification capped a brilliant two weeks in Bahrain, which included a double in round two which was held last weekend in support of the 2012 Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix and then a third straight win during the third round’s Feature Race held Friday.
Mexican Esteban Gutierrez of Lotus GP (+16.488s) finished fourth, Brazilian Felipe Nasr of DAMS (+18.602s) was fifth and Indonesian Rio Haryanto of Carlin (+20.425s) claimed sixth place.
Swede Marcus Ericsson of iSport International (+26.294s) took seventh as Swiss Fabio Leimer of Racing Engineering rounded out the top eight, 29.605s behind the winner.
Valsecchi’s podium helped him extend his championship lead on the drivers’ standings where he now boasts a total of 107 points. Razia remains second with 83 points while Gutierrez was third with 64 markers.