GP2 Asia Series season opener

The Italian driver Davide Valsecchi was not to be denied his first GP2 pole position today at Yas Marina  Circuit  in  the  first  qualifying  session  of  the  third  GP2  Asia  Series  season.  Dominant  this morning  during  Free  Practice,  the  iSport  ace  kept  control  of  the  pace  again  and  claimed  pole position with a best laptime of a 1:51.964 clocked in after only four laps.

The track temperature rose to 44°C as the pitlane opened and rapidly rookie Alexander Rossi at Ocean Racing set the pace but was soon denied the top stop by the man of the hour, Valsecchi who, on his first flying lap took the lead of the field. Roldan Rodriguez at Scuderia Coloni, Diego Nunes  at  Meritus  and  the  impressive  Fabio  Leimer  at  Ocean  Racing  successively  though  briefly bettered  the  Italian’s  time,  but  Valsecchi  would  not  let  them  shine  today  and  reclaimed  what seemed to be only his today: the top stop.

One man could have stopped Valsecchi’s run for glory: countryman Meritus’ Luca Filippi - who set the  quickest  laptime  last  week  during  the  pre-season  tests  -  moved  up  to  third  place  at  mid- session,  but right after he crossed the start/finish line his car suddenly slowed down to a stop at Turn 19 following a gearbox selection problem.

Behind Valsecchi, Sam Bird at ART continued to display a strong GP2 debut performance ahead of Leimer  while  Filippi  although  he  missed  half  of  the  session  managed  to  qualify  in  fourth.  He  is followed by Rodriguez, Rodolfo Rodriguez at Arden, James Jakes at Super Nova, Johnny Cecotto at  Trident  and  Josef  Kral  on  the  second  Super  Nova car. On his ultimate attempt and under the chequered flag, Giacomo Ricci at DPR slipped into tenth place.

Tomorrow’s Feature race will start at 11am local time.

Abu Dhabi – Qualifying Session

Driver Team Time Laps

1. Davide Valsecchi iSport international 1:51.964 12 2. Sam Bird ART Grand Prix 1:52.183 14 3. Fabio Leimer Ocean Racing Technology 1:52.236 13 4. Luca Filippi MalaysiaQI-Meritus.com 1:52.240 5 5. Roldan Rodriguez Scuderia Coloni 1:52.300 13 6. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden International 1:52.436 15 7. James Jakes Super Nova Racing 1:52.529 14 8. Johnny Cecotto Trident Racing 1:52.557 13 9. Josef Kral Super Nova Racing 1:52.575 13 10. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:52.690 13 11. Edoardo Piscopo DAMS 1:52.792 14 12. Daniel Zampieri Piquet GP 1:52.816 14 13. Alexander Rossi Ocean Racing Technology 1:52.827 14 14. Christian Vietoris DAMS 1:52.792 14 15. Marcus Ericsson ART Grand Prix 1:52.846 11 16. Michael Herck DPR 1:52.869 15 17. Diego Nunes MalaysiaQI-Meritus.com 1:52.907 12 18. Oliver Turvey iSport International 1:52.955 14 19. Luiz Razia Barwa Addax Team 1:52.996 14 20 Charles Pic Arden International 1:53.112 14 21. Max Chilton Barwa Addax Team 1:53.147 14 22. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Piquet GP 1:53.628 14 23. William Bratt Scuderia Coloni 1:53.711 14 24. Plamen Kralev Trident Racing 1:58.149 13