Photo: Alastair Staley/GP2 Media Service
British driver Sam Bird has taken his second consecutive pole position in the GP2 series, topping the qualifying session at Monza.
After the Russian Time cars displayed excellent pace in practice, it was hardly surprising to see Bird fighting for the top spot.
However, the Briton did manage to stun the opposition, jumping ahead of session frontrunners Fabio Leimer and Jolyon Palmer with a great flying lap in his second run.
Leimer and Palmer, who set the pace in practice, had to settle for second and third respectively. DAMS driver Marcus Ericsson looked to have a shot on pole after the checkered flag went out, but ultimately stayed in fourth, ahead of Bird’s teammate Tom Dillmann.
Championship leader Stefano Coletti took sixth, ahead of Dani Clos and James Calado. Jake Rosenzweig recorded his best qualifying result in GP2 in ninth, while Simon Trummer rounded out the top ten.
Just as practice, the qualifying session did not proceed uninterrupted, with two cars – that of Sergio Canamasas and Vittorio Ghirelli – ending up in the gravel at Parabolica in the first round of laps. The incidents spelled the end of the session for both drivers and collectively brought out a red flag that lasted for several minutes.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Sam Bird | Russian Time | 1:31.788 | 12 | |
| 2 | Fabio Leimer | Racing Engineering | 1:31.822 | +0.034 | 14 |
| 3 | Jolyon Palmer | Carlin | 1:31.843 | +0.055 | 13 |
| 4 | Marcus Ericsson | DAMS | 1:31.915 | +0.127 | 14 |
| 5 | Tom Dillmann | Russian Time | 1:31.949 | +0.161 | 10 |
| 6 | Stefano Coletti | Rapax | 1:31.993 | +0.205 | 15 |
| 7 | Daniel Clos | MP Motorsport | 1:32.024 | +0.236 | 11 |
| 8 | James Calado | ART Grand Prix | 1:32.033 | +0.245 | 12 |
| 9 | Jake Rosenzweig | Barwa Addax Team | 1:32.100 | +0.312 | 12 |
| 10 | Simon Trummer | Rapax | 1:32.164 | +0.376 | 12 |
| 11 | Stephane Richelmi | DAMS | 1:32.168 | +0.380 | 12 |
| 12 | Felipe Nasr | Carlin | 1:32.381 | +0.593 | 13 |
| 13 | Rio Haryanto | Barwa Addax Team | 1:32.384 | +0.596 | 13 |
| 14 | Julian Leal | Racing Engineering | 1:32.398 | +0.610 | 15 |
| 15 | Alexander Rossi | Caterham Racing | 1:32.447 | +0.659 | 14 |
| 16 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:32.462 | +0.674 | 13 |
| 17 | Mitchell Evans | Arden International | 1:32.481 | +0.693 | 12 |
| 18 | Jon Lancaster | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:32.482 | +0.694 | 13 |
| 19 | Nathanael Berthon | Trident Racing | 1:32.554 | +0.766 | 13 |
| 20 | Daniel Abt | ART Grand Prix | 1:32.627 | +0.839 | 12 |
| 21 | Johnny Cecotto | Arden International | 1:32.650 | +0.862 | 12 |
| 22 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 1:32.751 | +0.963 | 10 |
| 23 | Sergio Campana | Trident Racing | 1:33.195 | +1.407 | 14 |
| 24 | Rene Binder | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:33.292 | +1.504 | 14 |
| 25 | Vittorio Ghirelli | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:33.405 | +1.617 | 5 |
| 26 | Sergio Canamasas | Caterham Racing | 1:34.963 | +3.175 | 3 |
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