Home Z - Archive seriesAuto GP Giovesi pipped by Karthikeyan to Auto GP pole at Mugello

Giovesi pipped by Karthikeyan to Auto GP pole at Mugello

by Peter Allen
Narain Karthikeyan

Photo: Auto GP

Kevin Giovesi was edged out by ex-Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan by just 0.035 seconds in the fight for pole position at the fifth weekend of the Auto GP season at Mugello.

Giovesi, who returns to action in Auto GP this weekend after sitting out the last two GP2 rounds, went top with five minutes remaining before shaving a tenth off that effort two laps later.

Karthikeyan however narrowly bettered that just before the chequered flag came out, taking his second pole position from as many weekends driving for the champion Super Nova team.

His team-mate Vittorio Ghirelli had held top spot for some time before being dethroned by Giovesi, but even a late improvement was not enough to put him higher than third.

Sergio Campana took fourth, his quickest lap coming inside the opening ten minutes of the half hour session. It was good enough to see him finish one place ahead of championship leader Kimiya Sato, who was yesterday announced to be making his F1 debut with Sauber at next week’s Silverstone test.

Robert Visoiu, a race winner in GP3 since the last Auto GP round, was sixth, nearly a second behind his Ghinzani team-mate Ghirelli. Andrea Roda was just a further five thousandths of a second behind in seventh, with Meindert van Buuren eighth. Tamas Pal Kiss was ninth, with new Zele Racing team-mate and former F1 driver Christian Klien down in tenth but still a place ahead of GP2 regular Daniel De Jong.

Qualifying results
Pos Driver? Team Time? Gap? ?Laps?
1 Narain Karthikeyan Supernova International 1:34.583 13
2 Kevin Giovesi Ghinzani Motorsport 1:34.618 0.035 11
3 Vittorio Ghirelli Supernova International 1:34.757 0.174 13
4 Sergio Campana Ibiza Racing Team 1:35.283 0.700 12
5 Kimiya Sato Euronova Racing 1:35.525 0.942 11
6 Robert Visoiu Ghinzani Motorsport 1:35.603 1.020 12
7 Andrea Roda Virtuosi UK 1:35.608 1.025 12
8 Meindert van Buuren Manor MP Motorsport 1:35.763 1.180 15
9 Tamas Pal Kiss Zele Racing 1:35.791 1.208 11
10 Christian Klien Zele Racing 1:35.831 1.248 13
11 Daniel de Jong Manor MP Motorsport 1:36.549 1.966 13
12 Maxim Snegirev Virtuosi UK 1:36.610 2.027 14
13 Francesco Dracone Ibiza Racing Team 1:36.777 2.194 12
14 Yoshitaka Kuroda Euronova Racing 1:36.927 2.344 8
15 Michele La Rosa MLR 71 1:38.145 3.562 14