Monza: Series qualifying report

Monza, Qualifying: Grosjean beats Tappy to pole

Romain Grosjean will start from pole in today's Auto GP Race 1 in Monza. The Frenchman from DAMS managed to put the whole group behind him with a great lap (1'36"171), closing with an half second gap on the second placed rival. Doing this he also clinched the pole extra point, putting another little brick on his championship lead.

Behind Grosjean, the fight for the top spots was very close and the gaps are very very tight: Duncan Tappy was second and will start from front row, but both Adrien Tambay and Fabio Onidi behind him are in the same tenth.

The same goes for the drivers following them: Giorgio Pantano was fifth but with just a 0.001 gap on Federico Leo, that with the dry track managed to make the most of the Trident Lola.

Behind them was Jan Charouz, leading a tight pack including Edoardo Piscopo, Davide Valsecchi and Julian Leal, all in the same tenth.

So today's race should be very exciting, especially because the long straights of Monza usually provide a lot of overtaking chances thanks to the slipstreams. Furthermore, some usually very quick drivers as Luca Filippi, Jonny Reid and Alexander Sims will do their best to recover after an unlucky qualifying session.

Romain Grosjean: "As I said yesterday I love Monza, and pole position is the best way to prepare for today. I hope that everything will be fine at the start and then I should be able to do a good race, because also our race pace is very good".

Duncan Tappy: "I'm very happy for the front row, but I think there's more to come. I can still push a bit more, and I will try to do that in the race. I have to look at the datas with the team, but I believe that in Sector 2 I should be able to cut the gap from Romain a bit".

Adrien Tambay: "It seems that Italy brings me good luck! Anyway I want to wait the race finish to say that. The starting position is good and the laptime is too, considering that in my best lap I did a little mistake and that I had no slipstream, a big handicap in Monza. We can also improve the car a bit under braking, we will work on that for the race".

-source: autogp