The 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season was the second season of the GP2 Asia Series. It began on 18 October 2008 and ended on 26 April 2009 and consisted of eleven races at six events.

Season summary All teams from the 2008 GP2 Series season except for Racing Engineering took part in the competition, with the thirteenth slot being filled by Qi-Meritus Mahara. The reigning champion Romain Grosjean did not defend his title.

Kamui Kobayashi clinched the title with a fourth place at the penultimate race in Bahrain. 8 different winners were in 12 races: Kamui Kobayashi become champion, after Japanese won in two consecutive feature races at Dubai Autodrome, and at Bahrain International Circuit.

Diego Nunes won the last two feature races at Sepang International Circuit, and at Bahrain International Circuit. Roldán Rodríguez wins in first race of the season. Nico Hülkenberg, Luiz Razia, Vitaly Petrov, Davide Valsecchi, and Sergio Pérez each other won one race.

Teams and drivers All of the teams used the Dallara GP2/05 chassis with Renault-badged 4.0 litre (244 cu in) naturally-aspirated Mecachrome V8 engines order and with tyres supplied by Bridgestone. Team Driver Rounds ART Grand Prix 1 Sakon YamamotoSakon Yamamoto: official GP2 Asia driver of ART art-grandprix.com All 2 Nelson Philippe 1 Pastor Maldonado 2, 5–6 Nico Hülkenberg 3–4 Trust Team Arden (1–2) Arden International Motorsport (3–6) 3 Luiz Razia All 4 Mika Mäki 1 Renger van der Zande 2 Edoardo Mortara 3–6 Barwa International Campos Team 5 Vitaly PetrovCampos Racing All 6 Sergio Pérez All DAMS 7 Jérôme d'Ambrosio All 8 Kamui Kobayashi All GFH Team iSport 9 Giedo van der Garde All 10 Hamad Al Fardan All Super Nova Racing 11 Javier Villa All 12 James Jakes All Fisichella Motor Sport International 14 Andreas Zuber 1–2 Rodolfo González 3–6 15 Kevin Chen All Durango 16 Davide Valsecchi All 17 Carlos IaconelliGP2: Iaconelli to team with valsecchi at shanghai durango.it 1 Michael Dalle Stelle 2–6 My Team Qi-Meritus Mahara 18 Alex YoongMy Team Qi-Meritus.Mahara signs Alex Yoong 1–2 Marco Bonanomi 3–6 19 Earl Bamber crash.net 1–3 Álvaro Parente 4–6 Piquet GP 20 Roldán RodríguezGP2: Piquet GP & Rodríguez together for GP2 Asia and GP2 Main Piquet GP official site – 23.09.2008. All 21 Diego NunesGP2: Diego Nunes second car in GP2 Asia Series Piquet GP official site – 07.10.2008. All DPR 22 Michael Herck All 23 Yuhi Sekiguchi 1 Giacomo Ricci 2–6 BCN Competición* 24 Hiroki Yoshimoto 1 25 Luca FilippiGP2: Filippi back with BCN crash.net 1 Ocean Racing Technology* 24 Yelmer Buurman 2–5 Karun Chandhok 6 25 Fabrizio Crestani 2–6 Trident Racing 26 Giacomo Ricci 1 Alberto Valerio 2 Frankie Provenzano 3–4 Ricardo Teixeira 5–6 27 Chris van der Drift 1–2 Adrián Vallés 3 Davide Rigon 4–6 * – Team was known as BCN Competición at round one in Shanghai, before Tiago Monteiro bought over the team's assets and renamed it as Ocean Racing Technology.

Calendar On 12 July, GP2 Series organisers announced a provisional calendar for their second season. Unlike the first season of the GP2 Asia Series, this season will start prior to the new year, and be expanded to six events from the previous five. The Indonesian round has been dropped, while Bahrain earns a second event and Shanghai earns its first GP2 races. Shanghai will also host the official GP2 Asia Series test session prior to the start of the season.

The sprint race of the second round of the championship – at the Dubai Autodrome – was cancelled due to flooding.

On 17 December, an alteration was made to the calendar, with the Losail International Circuit in Qatar replacing the February meeting in Dubai. The meeting was also moved to February 12–14 because the original date on the calendar was unsuitable, due to MotoGP testing. This event introduced night racing to GP2, following the circuit's lead with MotoGP and its support classes and also Formula One's night race in Singapore.

Race Calendar Round Circuit Date Pole position Fastest Lap Winning driver Winning team Report 1 Shanghai International Circuit 18 October Roldán Rodríguez Kamui Kobayashi Roldán Rodríguez Piquet GP Report 19 October Davide Valsecchi Durango 2 F Dubai Autodrome 5 December Kamui Kobayashi Kamui Kobayashi Kamui Kobayashi DAMS Report S 6 December Race cancelled 3 F Bahrain International Circuit 23 January Nico Hülkenberg Kamui Kobayashi Kamui Kobayashi DAMS Report S 24 January Sergio Pérez Barwa International Campos Team 4 F Losail International Circuit 13 February Nico Hülkenberg Nico Hülkenberg ART Grand Prix Report S 14 February Sergio Pérez Sergio Pérez Barwa International Campos Team 5 F Sepang International Circuit 4 April Jérôme d'Ambrosio Diego Nunes Piquet GP Report S 5 April Álvaro Parente Vitaly Petrov Barwa International Campos Team 6 F Bahrain International Circuit 25 April Kamui Kobayashi Jérôme d'Ambrosio Diego Nunes Piquet GP Report S 26 April Jérôme d'Ambrosio Luiz Razia Arden International MotorsportSource:

Championship standings Scoring system Points are awarded to the top 8 classified finishers in the Feature race, and to the top 6 classified finishers in the Sprint race. The pole-sitter in the feature race will also receive two points, and one point is given to the driver who set the fastest lap inside the top ten in both the feature and sprint races. No extra points are awarded to the pole-sitter in the sprint race.

Point system for Feature Race Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   Pole   FL  Points 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 2 1

Point system for Sprint Race Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   FL  Points 6 5 4 3 2 1 1

Drivers' Championship Pos Driver SHI DUB BHR LSL SEP BHR Points 1 Kamui Kobayashi 2 Ret 1 C 1 6 4 18 2 7 4 5 56 2 Jérôme d'Ambrosio 9 5 7 C 2 3 5 7 DNS DSQ 3 2 36 3 Roldán Rodríguez 1 6 3 C 6 23 Ret 17 4 12 2 Ret 35 4 Davide Valsecchi 8 1 2 C 5 2 6 5 8 3 16 Ret 34 5 Vitaly Petrov 5 Ret 5 C 10 12 3 2 6 1 19 11 28 6 Nico Hülkenberg 4 4 1 3 27 7 Sergio Pérez Ret 7 6 C 8 1 2 1 Ret 6 12 9 26 8 Diego Nunes 12 Ret Ret C 13 22 11 12 1 4 1 6 24 9 Sakon Yamamoto 3 14 8 C 17 11 Ret 14 12 Ret 6 4 13 10 Javier Villa 4 3 9 C 9 5 13 10 19 18 15 12 12 11 Edoardo Mortara 3 8 7 4 Ret 17 Ret 16 11 12 Giedo van der Garde 10 DNS 4 C 7 14 12 8 14 10 5 7 11 13 Luiz Razia Ret 17 10 C 14 9 8 6 Ret Ret 8 1 9 14 Earl Bamber 6 2 Ret C 11 7 8 15 Pastor Maldonado Ret C 7 2 Ret Ret 7 16 James Jakes Ret 11 12 C 22 Ret 9 9 3 Ret 10 14 7 17 Davide Rigon 14 15 Ret 13 7 3 6 18 Chris van der Drift 7 4 Ret C 5 19 Yelmer Buurman Ret C Ret 13 Ret DNS 5 11 4 20 Hamad Al Fardan 15 Ret Ret C 12 Ret Ret Ret 9 5 Ret 17 2 21 Álvaro Parente 17 16 11 9 Ret 13 1 22 Marco Bonanomi 20 10 16 11 Ret 14 14 8 0 23 Rodolfo González 16 Ret Ret 19 10 8 Ret Ret 0 24 Hiroki Yoshimoto Ret 8 0 25 Alex Yoong 14 9 Ret C 0 26 Karun Chandhok 9 Ret 0 27 Giacomo Ricci 13 Ret 13 C Ret 16 Ret 13 16 15 11 10 0 28 Fabrizio Crestani 14 C Ret 17 10 21 15 16 18 15 0 29 Mika Mäki Ret 10 0 30 Carlos Iaconelli 11 Ret 0 31 Renger van der Zande 11 C 0 32 Yuhi Sekiguchi Ret 12 0 33 Michael Herck 16 16 15 C 18 18 15 Ret 13 Ret 13 Ret 0 34 Nelson Philippe 17 13 0 35 Frankie Provenzano 15 15 19 20 0 36 Kevin Chen Ret 15 18 C 21 21 18 23 20 Ret Ret 18 0 37 Alberto Valerio 16 C 0 38 Ricardo Teixeira 17 19 17 Ret 0 39 Michael Dalle Stelle 17 C 19 20 20 22 18 20 Ret 19 0 40 Adrián Vallés Ret 19 0– Andreas Zuber Ret Ret Ret C 0– Luca Filippi Ret Ret 0 Pos Driver SHI DUB BHR LSL SEP BHR PointsSource: Notes: † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Teams' Championship Pos Team CarNo. SHI DUB BHR LSL SEP BHR Points 1 DAMS 7 9 5 7 C 2 3 5 7 DNS DSQ 3 2 92 8 2 Ret 1 C 1 6 4 18 2 7 4 5 2 Piquet GP 20 1 6 3 C 6 23 Ret 17 4 12 2 Ret 59 21 12 Ret Ret C 13 22 11 12 1 4 1 6 3 Barwa International Campos Team 5 5 Ret 5 C 10 12 3 2 6 1 19 11 54 6 Ret 7 6 C 8 1 2 1 Ret 6 12 9 4 ART Grand Prix 1 3 14 8 C 17 11 Ret 14 12 Ret 6 4 47 2 17 13 Ret C 4 4 1 3 7 2 Ret Ret 5 Durango 16 8 1 2 C 5 2 6 5 8 3 16 Ret 34 17 11 Ret 17 C 19 20 20 22 18 20 Ret 19 6 Trust Team Arden (1–2) Arden International Motorsport (3–6) 3 Ret 17 10 C 14 9 8 6 Ret Ret 8 1 20 4 Ret 10 11 C 3 8 7 4 Ret 17 Ret 16 7 Super Nova Racing 11 4 3 9 C 9 5 13 10 19 18 15 12 19 12 Ret 11 12 C 22 Ret 9 9 3 Ret 10 14 8 GFH Team iSport 9 10 DNS 4 C 7 14 12 8 14 10 5 7 13 10 15 Ret Ret C 12 Ret Ret Ret 9 5 Ret 17 9 Trident Racing 26 13 Ret 16 C 15 15 19 20 17 13 17 3 11 27 7 4 Ret C Ret 19 14 15 Ret 19 7 Ret 10 My Team Qi-Meritus Mahara 18 14 9 Ret C 20 10 16 11 Ret 14 14 8 9 19 6 2 Ret C 11 7 17 16 11 9 Ret 13 11 Ocean Racing Technology 24 Ret C Ret 13 Ret DNS 5 11 9 Ret 4 25 14 C Ret 17 10 21 15 16 18 15 12 Fisichella Motor Sport International 14 Ret Ret Ret C 16 Ret Ret 19 10 8 Ret Ret 0 15 Ret 15 18 C 21 21 18 23 20 Ret Ret 18 13 DPR 22 16 16 15 C 18 18 15 Ret 13 Ret 13 Ret 0 23 Ret 12 13 C Ret 16 Ret 13 16 15 11 10 14 BCN Competición 24 Ret 8 0 25 Ret Ret Pos Team CarNo. SHI DUB BHR LSL SEP BHR PointsSource: Notes: † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Notes

References

External links GP2 Series official website