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| February 04, 2010 |
| GP2 Asia: Pic on Pole in Abu Dhabi |
 | Charles Pic secured his inaugural GP2 pole position in Round Three of the Asia Series in Abu Dhabi
(Photo: GP2 series Media Services) |
Fast in Free Practice earlier in the day in Abu Dhabi, Arden’s Charles Pic gave his absolute best during qualifying and fended off Davide Valsecchi’s attacks to claim a maiden pole position on his second GP2 Asia Series race weekend. iSport’s and rookie Oliver Turvey will start next to him in Round Three race at Yas Marina Circuit in the United Arab Emirates.
On a still dirty track, GP2 Asia Series’ leader Valsecchi was rapidly on top of the timesheet and was looking to repeat his performance from the last round at that same track. Although quickest earlier during Free Practice, Luca Filippi’s hopes to shine again in qualifying were ruined after 13 minutes following a technical gremlin on his Meritus car.
As the track improved, so did the lap times, and Pic was on a mission. He claimed the top spot with nine minutes left on the clock, 0.3s faster than Valsecchi. But the Italian would not let the Frenchman get away with it and thus started one of the most disputed pole positions in the history of the Asia Series, each man bettering the lap time of the other lap after lap. Sam Bird at ART Grand Prix tried to join the battle, moving up to P3 but was soon denied the spot by GP2 returnee Javier Villa.
In the very last minute of the session, rookie Jules Bianchi improved all sectors and placed his ART Grand car in third place. As the checkered flag fell, Valsecchi ran a bit too wide in the last corner leaving Pic with the satisfaction of snatching his first pole position. But the session was not over for one man: quickest in sector three on his last attempt. Turvey denied his teammate a front-row spot, thus the top two will be made of exclusively of newcomers.
Behind the top-three, Bianchi finished a strong fourth ahead of another rookie, American Alexander Rossi at Meritus.
Soon after the session was completed the Meritus was handed a pair of penalties. The Stewards handed Filippi a five positions penalty on the starting grid of Friday's (February 5) feature race after the Italian was found guilty of causing a collision with Turvey during the Free Practice. Rossi's car was found to not be in conformity with the technical regulations, thus he was excluded from the qualifying session classification, resulting in last place starting position in race one of the doubleheader.
Round Three of the 2010 GP2 Asia Series is scheduled to commence at 6 p.m. local time on February 5th.
GP2 Asia Series
Round #3 - Qualifying Results
February 4, 2010
Yas Marina Circuit - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Fast Time| 1. | Charles Pic | Arden International | 1:52.497 | | 2. | Oliver Turvey | iSport International | 1:52.517 | | 3. | Davide Valscecchi | iSport International | 1:52.603 | | 4. | Jules Bianchi | ART Grand Prix | 1:52.842 | | 5. | Javier Villa | Arden International | 1:52.979 | | 6. | Sam Bird | ART Grand Prix | 1:53.003 | | 7. | Edoardo Piscopo | Dams | 1:53.086 | | 8. | Giacomo Ricci | DPR | 1:53.134 | | 9. | Christian Vietoris | Dams | 1:53.183 | | 10 | Sergio Perez | Barwa Addax Team | 1:53.407 | | 11. | Daniel Zampieri | Rapax | 1:53.491 | | 12. | Geido Van der Garde | Barwa Addax Team | 1:53.509 | | 13. | Fabio Leimer | Ocean Racing Technology | 1:53.611 | | 14. | Josef Kral | Super Nova Racing | 1:53.685 | | 15. | Vladimir Arabadzhiev | Rapax | 1:53.687 | | 16. | Dani Clos | Trident Racing | 1:53.982 | | 17. | Max Chilton | Ocean Racing Technology | 1:54.036 | | 18. | Michael Herck | DPR | 1:54.074 | | 19. | Luca Filippi | MalaysiaQi-Meritus.Com | 1:54.121 | | 20. | Marcus Ericsson | Super Nova Racing | 1:54.723 | | 21. | Plamen Kralev | Trident Racing | 1:58.274 | | 22. | William Bratt | Scuderia Coloni | 2:02.517 | | DQ | Alexander Rossi | MalaysiaQi-Meritus.Com | 1:52.861 | |
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