Russian keeps championship challenge alive Vitaly Petrov has kept his championship hopes going with a strong drive in difficult conditions during Friday afternoon's qualifying session in Monza to claim pole for tomorrow's race one, ahead of Giedo van der Garde and points leader Nico Hülkenberg.
The Russian, who has been feeling poor all day after picking up an infection on his arm, stopped the clock with a laptime of 1:30.007, four tenths faster than his rivals, to pick up the two points on offer and close the gap to his German rival to 25 points.
Petrov led the field out of the pits at the start of the session and sat at the top of the timesheets for the remaining 30 minutes, with his rivals unable to get close: the Russian even set the second and third fastest laps on his second set of tyres and was comfortable enough to get out of the car well before the end of the session.
Sergio Perez set an impressive fourth quickest time, just ahead of Lucas di Grassi (who has a ten grid place penalty to serve after race two at Spa), Pastor Maldonado, themorning's fastest driver Roldan Rodriguez (who ran wide at Parabolica and seemed unable to improve thereafter) and Diego Nunes.
With 15 drivers within a second of pole tomorrow's race promises to be as hot as the conditions, but all eyes will be on Petrov to see if he can take more points out of Hülkenberg's championship lead and take the fight down to the wire.
Monza - Qualifying Session Driver Team Time Laps
1. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Addax Team 1:30.007 8 2. Giedo van der Garde iSport International 1:30.398 10 3. Nico Hülkenberg ART Grand Prix 1:30.436 12 4. Sergio Perez Telmex Arden international 1:30.460 13 5. Lucas di Grassi Fat Burner Racing Eng. 1:30.504 11 6. Pastor Maldonado ART Grand Prix 1:30.596 14 7. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet GP 1:30.634 15 8. Diego Nunes iSport International 1:30.729 13 9. Davide Valsecchi Barwa Addax Team 1:30.768 11 10. Andreas Zuber Party Poker Racing.com SC 1:30.803 13 11. Javier Villa Super Nova Racing 1:30.831 14 12. Alberto Valerio Piquet GP 1:30 911 12 13. Davide Rigon Trident Racing 1:30.922 15 14. Dani Clos Fat Burner Racing Eng. 1:31.021 12 15. Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing 1:31.024 15 16. Johnny Cecotto DPR 1:31.080 15 17. Luiz Razia Party Poker Racing.com SC 1:31.112 14 18. Alvaro Parente Ocean Racing Technology 1:31.160 14 19. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:31.303 16 20 Karun Chandhok Ocean Racing Technology 1:31.325 14 21. Michael Herck DPR 1:31.347 14 22. Jérôme d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:31.455 15 23. Edoardo Mortara Telmex Arden International 1:31.887 15 24. Ricardo Teixeira Trident Racing 1:32.640 15
