Japanese Kobayashi – who tests for Toyota’s F1 team – triumphed in the GP2 Asia sprint with seeming ease, but Swiss Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) was forced to fight his way up from down in ninth during the 22 laps for his points.
“I’m very happy with my first victory in the Asian GP2 Series,” Kobayashi said.
“After that I lifted off slightly to nurse my tyres. We’ve done a great job in Malaysia and scored a bagful of points. Our season’s really begun this weekend.”
Kobayashi started his race career in karting in Japan before joining the Toyota Young Drivers Programme and moving to the Italian and German Formula Renault series’. Success followed in 2005 in Formula Renault Eurocup and the Italian Formula Renault championship.
A move to the Formula 3 Euroseries saw Kobayashi finish in eighth position in 2006 and then fourth the following season.
After years of investment from Toyota, Kobayashi will continue his learning curve, this time with Formula One machinery, in 2008.
Statistics:
Season Series Team Name Races Poles Wins Points Final Placing
2004 German Formula Renault Prema Powerteam 2 0 0 16 31st
Italian Formula Renault Motopark Academy 17 3 2 134 7th
2005 Italian Formula Renault Prema Powerteam 15 4 6 312 1st
Formula Renault Eurocup Prema Powerteam 16 4 6 157 1st
2006 Formula Three Euroseries ASM Formule 3 19 0 0 34 8th
2007 Formula Three Euroseries ASM Formule 3 20 1 1 59 4th
