Glock wins GP2 pole at Magny Cours

Timo Glock has claimed pole position for tomorrow's first race by just one tenth of a second from teammate Andi Zuber and Bruno Senna in a frantic qualifying session at the Circuit Magny Cours.

The German's late charge to set a lap of 1:21.895 stole the top spot from Zuber, who had been fast throughout the session and had looked comfortable at the top of the table, and helped claim iSport's second 1-2 in qualifying this year, following on from their equal effort in Barcelona.

The session started with a bang, literally, when Vitaly Petrov and Luca Filippi came together at the Adelaide hairpin on their outlap. Both drivers limped back to the pits, but while Petrov was soon back on track after the misunderstanding the Italian was less lucky, having suffered serious suspension problems on his right front. While he managed to get back out in the latter stages of the session, he was unable to push hard and finished 16th, which will almost guarantee that he loses his current second position in the championship standings.

As with this morning's free practice the top spot on the timesheet changed hands rapidly in the early stages of qualifying, with Ernesto Viso, Giorgio Pantano and Lucas di Grassi swapping fastest times, while Glock, Senna and Karun Chandhok were all in the neighbourhood timewise.

Di Grassi was the man to take the fastest lap so far with him as he joined most of the field in the pits for a tyre change, and it looked as though the ART driver was happy with his car after as a result of the recent Paul Ricard test, but his rivals were about to break the Brazilian's hearts as first Pantano, then Senna, then Zuber and finally Glock put themselves on top.

In the closing minutes Glock had a colossal fight on his hands: Pantano was fast but got caught in traffic, Zuber set the fastest first sector time but couldn't quite hold on in sector three, whiledi Grassi closed up on them all but had to be satisfied to slot onto the second row just behind countryman Senna but ahead of Pantano.

Once again there was nothing between most of the drivers: the first fifteen were covered by one second, with all bar one driver within two seconds of pole, all of whom were ahead of last year's pole time of 1:23.911. While the threatened rain held off for qualifying it is anyone's guess what will happen meteorologically tomorrow, although the pace all through the field guarantees a fierce battle in tomorrow's race.

Results

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Glock iSport International 1:21.895 13
2. Zuber iSport International 1:21.997 + 0.102 14
3. Senna Arden International 1:22.255 + 0.360 9
4. Di Grassi ART Grand Prix 1:22.295 + 0.400 12
5. Pantano Campos Grand Prix 1:22.441 + 0.546 13
6. Rodriguez Minardi Piquet Sports 1:22.536 + 0.641 16
7. Maldonado Trident Racing 1:22.551 + 0.656 15
8. Zaugg Arden International 1:22.722 + 0.827 12
9. Nakajima DAMS 1:22.756 + 0.861 13
10. Lapierre DAMS 1:22.758 + 0.863 12
11. Conway Super Nova International 1:22.796 + 0.901 13
12. Ammermuller ART Grand Prix 1:22.798 + 0.903 12
13. Villa Racing Engineering 1:22.809 + 0.914 14
14. Carroll FMS International 1:22.827 + 0.932 15
15. Negrao Minardi Piquet Sports 1:22.895 + 1.000 14
16. Filippi Super Nova International 1:22.932 + 1.037 11
17. Petrov Campos Grand Prix 1:22.957 + 1.062 14
18. Soucek DPR 1:23.011 + 1.116 14
19. Viso Racing Engineering 1:23.028 + 1.133 15
20. Garcia Durango 1:23.031 + 1.136 13
21. Yamamoto BCN Competicion 1:23.031 + 1.136 11
22. Hirate Trident Racing 1:23.461 + 1.566 14
23. Chandhok Durango 1:23.518 + 1.623 6
24. Tung BCN Competicion 1:23.692 + 1.797 12
25. Bakkerud DPR 1:23.922 + 2.027 15
26. Tahinci FMS International 1:24.154 + 2.259 15