In what will go down in history as one of the most thrilling GP2 qualifying sessions ever, Frenchman Jules Bianchi snatched his first GP2 pole position in an extremely close battle with Series leader Davide Valsecchi today at Sakhir in the third round of the season. Bianchi placed his car on the top spot by just 0.003 seconds on his very last lap.
On a much cleaner track compared to this morning’s practice session, the ART man made a statement very early into the qualifying session, topping the timing sheet ahead of returnee Alvaro Parente and Javier Villa. On a different tyre strategy and leaving the pits later than most, Valsecchi waited for a clear lap in the middle of the session to push back Bianchi in second place, while the Italian’s teammate Oliver Turvey moved up to third place.
With ten minutes left on the clock, Luca Filippi moved to provisional pole, but not for long though as Bianchi, clearly on a mission and on a flyer, improved in the first and third sectors while setting an impressive second sector. Meanwhile, Villa moved up to second place, pushing Valsecchi back to fourth.
In the last sixty seconds of the session, Valsecchi improved his best laptime and looked set to claim his second pole position of the season. By then, the top 4 was within six hundredths. In his last effort and ten seconds before the chequered flag, Bianchi found it in him to improve even more earning his first GP2 pole position.
Behind Bianchi and Valsecchi, Villa and Filippi remained respectively third and fourth while Parente finished a strong fifth for Coloni ahead of Turvey, Giacomo Ricci, GP2 Asia race winner Christian Vietoris, Round 2 poleman Charles Pic and Sergio Perez.
Qualifying –Free Practice session
Driver Team Time Laps 1. Jules Bianchi ART Grand Prix 1:43.474 12 2. Davide Valsecchi iSport International 1:43.478 13 3. Javier Villa Arden International 1:43.519 11 4. Luca Filippi MalaysiaQI-Meritus.com 1:43.523 13 5. Alvaro Parente Scuderia Coloni 1:43.714 13 6. Oliver Turvey iSport International 1:43.818 13 7. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:43.918 12 8. Christian Vietoris DAMS 1:44.086 11 9. Charles Pic Arden International 1:44.172 13 10. Sergio Perez Barwa Addax Team 1:44.246 13 11. Sam Bird ART Grand Prix 1:44.253 13 12. Edoardo Piscopo DAMS 1:44.338 12 13. Max Chilton Barwa Addax Team 1:44.617 14 14. Michael Herck DPR 1:44.671 12 15. Alexander Rossi MalaysiaQI-Meritus.com 1:44.713 14 16. Yelmer Buurman Ocean Racing Technology 1:44.724 11 17. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Rapax 1:44.759 15 18. Adrian Zaugg Trident Racing 1:44.781 14 19. Daniele Zampieri Rapax 1:45.079 8 20 William Bratt Scuderia Coloni 1:45.320 13 21. Fabio Leimer Ocean Racing Technology 1:45.371 13 22. Josef Kral Super Nova Racing 1:45.424 12 23. Jake Rosenzweig Super Nova Racing 1:45.980 13 24. Plamen Kralev Trident Racing 1:47.243 12
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