French rookie puts his Arden car on pole at Yas Marina Circuit Fast in Free Practice in Abu Dhabi, Arden’s Charles Pic gave his absolute best during qualifying and fended off Davide Valsecchi’s attacks to claim a maiden pole position on his second GP2 race weekend.
iSport’s and rookie Oliver Turvey will start next to him on tomorrow’s grid. On a still dirty track, GP2 Asia Series’ leader Valsecchi was rapidly on top of the timesheet and was looking to repeat his performance from last round at that same track. Although quickest earlier during Free Practice, Luca Filippi’s hopes to shine again in qualifying were ruined after thirteen minutes following a technical gremlin on his Meritus car.
As the track improved, so did the laptimes and Pic was on a mission. He claimed the top spot with nine minutes left on the clock, 0.3s faster than Valsecchi. But the Italian would not let the Frenchman get away with it and thus started one of the most disputed pole positions in the history of the Asia Series, each man bettering the laptime of the other lap after lap. Sam Bird at ART tried to join the battle, moving up to P3 but was soon denied the spot by GP2 returnee Javier Villa.
In the very last minute of the session, rookie Jules Bianchi improved all sectors and placed his ART car in third place. As the chequered flag fell, Valsecchi ran a bit too wide in the last corner leaving Pic with the satisfaction of snatching his first pole position. But the session was not over for one man: quickest in sector 3 on his last attempt, Turvey denied his teammate of tomorrow’s front row which thus will be made of exclusively of newcomers. Behind the Top three, Bianchi finished a strong fourth ahead of another rookie Alexander Rossi at Meritus.
Qualifying session Driver Team Time Laps
1. Charles Pic Arden International 1:52.497 13 2. Oliver Turvey iSport International 1:52.517 15 3. Davide Valsecchi iSport International 1:52.603 13 4. Jules Bianchi ART Grand Prix 1:52.842 12 5. Alexander Rossi MalaysiQI-Meritus.com 1:52.861 12 6. Javier Villa Arden International 1:52.979 14 7. Sam Bird ART Grand Prix 1:53.003 13 8. Edoardo Piscopo DAMS 1:53.086 13 9. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:53.134 13 10. Christian Vietoris DAMS 1:53.183 14 11. Sergio Perez Barwa Addax Team 1:53.407 13 12. Daniele Zampieri Rapax 1:53.491 14 13. Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax team 1:53.509 13 14. Fabio Leimer Ocean Racing Technology 1:53.611 12 15. Josef Kral Super Nova Racing 1:53.685 15 16. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Rapax 1:53.687 14 17. Dani Clos Trident Racing 1:53.982 14 18. Max Chilton Ocean Racing Technology 1:54.036 14 19. Michael Herck DPR 1:54.074 13 20 Luca Filippi MalyasiaQI-Meritus.com 1:54.121 2 21. Marcus Ericsson Super Nova Racing 1:54.723 13 22. Plamen Kralev Trident Racing 1:58.274 9 23. William Bratt Scuderia Coloni 2:02.517 3 24. Alberto Valerio Scuderia Coloni
