Bahrain GP2: Gasly grabs pole from Vandoorne in tight duel
Pierre Gasly scored his second pole position of the GP2 season at Bahrain on Thursday, the DAMS driver beating newly-crowned champion Stoffel Vandoorne by 0.04s.
Pierre Gasly, DAMS
GP2 Series Media Service
Gasly set the pace initially, taking the top spot on 1m40.399s, but he was quickly toppled from the head of the times by Racing Engineering’s Jordan King on 1m40.217s.
Vandoorne was third quickest for ART Grand Prix with a lap of 1m40.720s, ahead of Alex Lynn (DAMS) and Nobuharu Matsushita (ART).
Vandoorne then surged to the top of the times after a cool-down lap, setting 1m39.357s on his second flying lap. Norman Nato did likewise to rise to P2, beating King’s time by 0.022s.
Practice pacesetter Alexander Rossi of Racing Engineering was down in 16th after the first run. He went out early for his second attempt, rising to fifth on his new tyres – but the top times would fall yet further.
Marciello went P1 with four minutes remaining with a lap of 1m39.648s, quickly beaten by Gasly on 1m39.572s, which would stand as the fastest lap of the session.
Vandoorne went P2 on 1m39.612s, as Marciello slipped to third – just 0.076s off pole.
Lynn improved to fourth, 0.013s off Marciello, ahead of King and Nato, with Mitch Evans and Matsushita also improving on his second run to demote Rossi – who was over half a second off the pace – down to ninth.
Qualifying results:
Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
1 | Pierre Gasly | DAMS | 1'39.572 | |
2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | ART Grand Prix | 1'39.612 | 0.040 |
3 | Raffaele Marciello | Trident | 1'39.648 | 0.076 |
4 | Alex Lynn | DAMS | 1'39.661 | 0.089 |
5 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering | 1'39.902 | 0.330 |
6 | Norman Nato | Arden International | 1'40.004 | 0.432 |
7 | Mitch Evans | RUSSIAN TIME | 1'40.027 | 0.455 |
8 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1'40.079 | 0.507 |
9 | Alexander Rossi | Racing Engineering | 1'40.141 | 0.569 |
10 | Arthur Pic | Campos Racing | 1'40.176 | 0.604 |
11 | Rio Haryanto | Campos Racing | 1'40.212 | 0.640 |
12 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 1'40.354 | 0.782 |
13 | Rene Binder | MP Motorsport | 1'40.367 | 0.795 |
14 | Sergey Sirotkin | Rapax | 1'40.539 | 0.967 |
15 | Nathanael Berthon | Daiko Team Lazarus | 1'40.571 | 0.999 |
16 | Sergio Canamasas | Daiko Team Lazarus | 1'40.588 | 1.016 |
17 | Marlon Stockinger | Status Grand Prix | 1'40.650 | 1.078 |
18 | Oliver Rowland | Status Grand Prix | 1'40.720 | 1.148 |
19 | Dean Stoneman | Carlin | 1'41.106 | 1.534 |
20 | Nicholas Latifi | MP Motorsport | 1'41.145 | 1.573 |
21 | Daniel de Jong | Trident | 1'41.208 | 1.636 |
22 | Andre Negrao | Arden International | 1'41.432 | 1.860 |
23 | Gustav Malja | Rapax | 1'41.775 | 2.203 |
24 | Sean Gelael | Carlin | 1'42.840 | 3.268 |
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