By: DAMS Racing
November 28 2016
DAMS and Alex Lynn claimed a dominant victory in Abu Dhabi, round 11 of the 2016 GP2 Series (November 25-27), to end their campaign on a fantastic high.
From pole position on the Sprint Race grid, British racer Lynn simply drove away from his opposition; the 23-year-old taking the chequered flag by five seconds at the Yas Marina Circuit.
It was the third win of the year for the Williams Martini Racing Development Driver and the fifth of his GP2 career - all of which have been achieved with Le Mans-based DAMS.
Lynn had finished eighth in the Feature Race after starting ninth and running a long first stint on the championship's medium-compound slicks.
A sticking wheelnut caused a longer-than-expected tyre change and dropped Lynn behind his team-mate Nicholas Latifi, but he passed the Canadian with two laps to go to secure eighth spot.
Latifi, who had started 13th, made it double-points for DAMS in the Feature Race. He came home ninth after opting for a short stint on super-soft tyres and an early switch to mediums. The Renault Sport Formula One Team Test Driver added 12th in Sunday's Sprint Race.
DAMS finished fifth in the Teams' Championship while Lynn's superb season-ending weekend elevated him to sixth in the Drivers' points. Latifi concluded his rookie GP2 campaign in 16th.
DAMS now remains in the UAE for the official three-day GP2 post-season test at the Yas Marina Circuit (November 30-December 2).
Alex Lynn, P8/P1: "It's great to finish the weekend - and the season - on such a nice high. I think I was on for a solid fifth or sixth in the Feature Race, but lost quite a bit of time in the final part of the medium-tyre stint and then also with the unfortunate wheelnut problem at the pitstop. But P8 gave me pole for the Sprint Race. The team made a lot of improvements to the car overnight and things just went fantastically in the race. It's a great way to end the season."
Nicholas Latifi, P9/P12: "It's nice to be back in the top 10 and to reward the team with some points for all their efforts this weekend. The top six was possible in qualifying, but the brakes got too hot, which affected my pace. I went for the 'exciting' strategy by starting on the option tyres and ended up having a relatively clean, trouble-free Feature Race. Sunday was tough and I struggled for pace generally, so that's something for us to analyse in the coming days."
François Sicard, Managing Director: "The best possible way to end a season is with a victory and we've achieved this. We had some bad luck in qualifying, mainly with yellow flags when Alex was on his best lap, and ninth and 14th didn't reflect our pace. But both drivers were very strong in the races and scored points. Alex should have been fifth in the Feature Race, but lost time with an unfortunate issue at his pitstop, and that helped him to get pole and the win in the Sprint. A perfect way to end two years together."
Canadians In BOLD