RUSSIAN TIME racer Sam Bird took his second GP2 Series pole position of the year at the famed Monza circuit in Northern Italy today.
The Englishman sets his quickest run – 1:31.788 – with six minutes remaining, pipping Fabio Leimer by a mere 0.034s as the session ticked down, bringing Bird to within ten points of the series peak.
Carlin’s Jolyon Palmer crossed the line a few short seconds after Leimer, setting what would become the 3rd quickest time of the qualifying run. Marcus Ericsson secured the outside of the second row for DAMS, with a quickest just over one-tenth from the top spot.
Tom Dillmann made it two RUSSIAN TIME drivers in the top three rows. The Frenchman just out-qualifying series leader Stefano Coletti, who brought his Rapax machine to 6th.
GP2 Series returnee Dani Clos took 7th, thanks to a 0.009s advantage over James Calado, while Jake Rosenzweig and Simon Trummer closed out the top ten. Championship contender Felipe Nasr gave himself a bit of work to do, by only managing 12th in his Carlin entry.
The session was interrupted by a red flag, when Vittorio Ghirelli spun off at the Parabolica, throwing huge plumes of gravel onto the circuit. Indeed at the same time, both Sergio Canamasas and Stephane Richelmi both endured errant spins.
2013 GP2 Series (Rd 9, Qualifying) Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Sam Bird Russian Time 1m31.788s 2. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1m31.822s +0.034s 3. Jolyon Palmer Carlin 1m31.843s +0.055s 4. Marcus Ericsson DAMS 1m31.915s +0.127s 5. Tom Dillmann Russian Time 1m31.949s +0.161s 6. Stefano Coletti Rapax 1m31.993s +0.205s 7. Dani Clos MP 1m32.024s +0.236s 8. James Calado ART 1m32.033s +0.245s 9. Jake Rosenzweig Addax 1m32.100s +0.312s 10. Simon Trummer Rapax 1m32.164s +0.376s 11. Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1m32.168s +0.380s 12. Felipe Nasr Carlin 1m32.381s +0.593s 13. Rio Haryanto Addax 1m32.384s +0.596s 14. Julian Leal Racing Engineering 1m32.398s +0.610s 15. Alexander Rossi Caterham 1m32.447s +0.659s 16. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Hilmer 1m32.462s +0.674s 17. Mitch Evans Arden 1m32.481s +0.693s 18. Jon Lancaster Hilmer 1m32.482s +0.694s 19. Nathanael Berthon Trident 1m32.554s +0.766s 20. Daniel Abt ART 1m32.627s +0.839s 21. Johnny Cecotto Arden 1m32.650s +0.862s 22. Daniel de Jong MP 1m32.751s +0.963s 23. Sergio Campana Trident 1m33.195s +1.407s 24. Rene Binder Lazarus 1m33.292s +1.504s 25. Vittorio Ghireli Lazarus 1m33.405s +1.617s 26. Sergio Canamasas Caterham 1m34.963s +3.175s
