Home Formula 2 Sam Bird secures pole position for Monza feature race

Sam Bird secures pole position for Monza feature race

by Valentin Khorounzhiy

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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