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Glock on Pole as iSport grabs first GP2 Series 1-2 |
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Monday, 14 May 2007 |
Timo Glock converted the fastest time in this morning’s practice session into a dominant pole position at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, this afternoon, leading team-mate Andi Zuber to record his first GP2 Series pole position and the first grid 1-2 for iSport International. Giorgio Pantano finished third fastest for Campos however he will lose five grid places along with Sakon Yamamoto and Andy Soucek after failing to heed yellow flags in this morning’s practice session.
Qualifying Report: The session started with almost every car launching out of the pitlane in a blur of noise, colour and tyre smoke. Giorgio was the first man out, and set about tearing up the track on this, one of the circuits at which he notoriously performs well. While the first two fastest laps belonged to the Italian, Andi soon pipped him to P1, with Kazuki Nakajima third for Dams.
Timo was more than happy to watch events unfold before him, as he sat
patiently in the pits, biding his time for the optimum moment to
strike. Half way through the session, and when all the drivers came in
to change tyres, Giorgio was still out on track smashing in his best
first two sectors. Traffic held him up on his third however and he
failed to improve his time.
Kazuki meanwhile was trying desperately to improve, given that he had a
ten-place grid penalty in his pocket held over from the second race in
Bahrain. On exiting the pits for a run however, the Japanese driver
slowed too much for the quicker traffic and somehow stalled. He trudged
back up the hill to join his team looking mightily sheepish.
Meanwhile you could almost see Timo’s smile under his helmet. His
iSport ride looked bolted to the track as he masterfully powered to the
second fastest lap of the day just as Andi improved his time to a
1:28.102. Next time through, and top spot was Timo’s with a stunning
1:27.713.
In the final minutes Lucas di Grassi jumped up to fifth for ART Grand
Prix, as Bahrain Race 2 winner Nicolas Lapierre bagged sixth for Dams.
The Frenchman continued to push though, and finished the session in the
barriers after a frightening looking off at Turn 9. The Frenchman
walked away unscathed however, and when all the penalties have shaken
out will start fourth behind Timo, Andi and Lucas.
But the day belonged to Timo, and with two points in the bag for pole
the German goes into tomorrow’s race level on points with Luca Filippi
at the top of the championship.
1st Timo Glock, iSport International. 1:27.713 The last time I
was on pole was 5 years ago in F3 so I’m really happy. This shows the
result of all the hard work we put in over the winter and it’s great
for me and the team.
2nd Andi Zuber, iSport International. 1:28.102 I made a little mistake in the last chicane, but I was expecting top 4 so I’m happy with 2nd place.
3rd Giorgio Pantano, Campos Grand Prix. 1:28.414 For me, pole was not possible but after practice and qualifying we look better than in Bahrain.
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