GP2 Qualifying Report

Following a closely run Practice session in Bahrain earlier today, it was always going to be a difficult job for everyone snatching pole position

Alexander Rossi led Johnny Cecotto and the rest of the field out onto the track as soon as the green light appeared at the end of the pit lane. Despite a different structure to the Pirelli tyres this season, drivers still had to use their second lap on the circuit to warm up the rubber. Axcil Jefferies struggled a little and had a harmless spin.

The first representative lap times were immediately under the 1m 40s barrier which showed how close the GP2 cars now are to Formula One. Stoffel Vandoorne went top with three session fastest sectors but the man who topped Practice – Mitch Evans – edged the Belgian by less than one tenth of a second.

At the halfway mark, Daniel Abt had moved up to P1 ahead of Evans, Vandoorne, Felipe Nasr and Jolyon Palmer. A familiar mid-session lull ensued as drivers were reluctant to set lap times.

Artem Markelov – on his GP2 debut with RT RUSSIAN TIME – spun at turn one and caused a red flag as the Russian driver stalled his car. Following a short stoppage, Vandoorne improved on his previous lap time which cancelled the out the investigation he was to face for exploiting track limits.

As the final seconds ticked by, Daniël de Jong spun at turn one which brought out yellow flags. Julián Leal and Jon Lancaster both appeared to have laps marred by traffic in the final sector but Jolyon Palmer faced now such issues; the DAMS driver went fastest and gained pole position with a time of 1:38.865. Stoffel Vandoorne banked a lap good enough for P2 on his GP2 debut while Daniel Abt proved that last year wasn't a personal issue with P3.

Position
1 J. Palmer DAMS 1:38.865
2 S. Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:38.895
3 D. Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:39.073
4 S. Richelmi DAMS 1:39.081
5 R. Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:39.228
6 S. Coletti Racing Engineering 1:39.271
7 M. Evans RT RUSSIAN TIME 1:39.274
8 F. Nasr Carlin 1;39.301
9 R. Marciello Racing Engineering 1:39.449
10 A. Pic Campos Racing 1:39.462
11 J. Lancaster MP Motorsport 1:39.507
12 J. Leal Carlin 1:39.588
13 J. Cecotto Trident. 1:39.615
14 A. Negrão Arden International 1:39.647
15 A. Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:39.651
16 K. Sato Campos Racing 1:39.749
17 R. Binder Arden International 1:39.788
18 C. Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:39.848
19 F. Regalia Hilmer Motorsport 1:39.881
20 N. Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:39.928
21 S. Trummer Rapax 1:40.059
22 D. De Jong MP Motorsport 1:40.060
23 T. Izawa ART Grand Prix 1:40.401
24 A. Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 1:40.408
25 A. Jefferies Trident 1:40.619
26 A. Markelov RT RUSSIAN TIME 1:41.172

Callum Rowe
Editor & Sole Contributor, Callum Rowe’s GP2