Belgian over two tenths clear of the chasing pack; Jolyon Palmer excluded after car found to have less than one litre of fuel
Saturday 6 September 2014 11:04, UK
McLaren protégé Stoffel Vandoorne made it back-to-back GP2 poles with a stunning lap at Monza on the weekend that Eric Boullier said both F1 seats were yet to be finalised.
The ART driver’s 1:31.707 saw him finish the session two tenths clear of the pack – a huge advantage given that the next six cars were separated by the same margin.
Arthur Pic will join him on the frontrow after producing his best qualifying performance in the series to date. The Frenchman led much of the session after a tow from Adrian Quaife-Hobbs through the final sector saw him post an impressive opening time which only Vandoorne would surpass.
Things could have been even better for the Frenchman, though, who had set the quickest time of anyone through the first sector after being pushed down to second, before getting blocked by Rio Haryanto, with the Campos driver making his feelings clear from the cockpit.
Mitch Evans jumped up to third in the closing stages for Russian Time, whilst Drivers’ Championship leader Jolyon Palmer will be frustrated with fourth after being blocked on his final flying lap by Johnny Cecotto.
The Venezuelan was clearly looking in his mirrors on the run to Parablolica, but despite being on a lap some seven seconds off the pace, still proceeded to obstruct Palmer. That was just one part of a disappointing session for the man who sits fourth in the standings, but has seen his title chances slip away in recent weeks. He finished the session 21st, but was given a three place grid penalty.
Things would get worse for Palmer, however, as after the session he was excluded from the results as his car had less than one litre of fuel in it in post-qualifying scrutineering.
That promoted to fourth Raffaele Marciello just ahead of Simon Trummer and Stephane Richelmi.
Palmer’s closest championship rival Felipe Nasr had once again left himself with work to do on Saturday having been only eighth quickest for Carlin, but the Briton's demotion gives him a great opportunity to close the gap. Julian Leal, Andre Negrao and Rio Haryanto completed the revised top ten.
The GP2 Feature Race follows Formula 1 qualifying on Saturday and you can see all the action live on Sky Sports F1 from 2:35pm.
GP2 Qualifying – Italy
1) Stoffel Vandoorne (BEL) – ART Grand Prix – 1:31.707
2) Arthur Pic (FRA) – Campos Racing - +0.219
3) Mitch Evans (NZL) – Russian Time - +0.227
4) Raffaele Marciello (ITA) – Racing Engineering - +0.417
5) Simon Trummer (SUI) – Rapax - +0.430
6) Stephane Richelmi (MON) – DAMS - +0.443
7) Felipe Nasr (BRA) – Carlin - +0.603
8) Julian Leal (COL) – Carlin - +0.636
9) Andre Negrao (BRA) – Arden International - +0.647
10) Rio Haryanto (INA) - Caterham - +0.654
Selected others
16) Jon Lancaster (GBR) – Hilmer Motorsport - +0.715
20) Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (GBR) – Rapax - +0.779
21) Johnny Cecotto (VEN) – Trident - +0.826
Jolyon Palmer (GBR) – DAMS - Excluded
