Bahrain: Qualifying report

Title chasers take Bahrain front row

Nico Rosberg (ART Grand Prix) will start this afternoon's GP2 series race from pole position after setting the quickest overall laptime in this morning's two Qualifying sessions. The German's lap of 1:44.643 was more than six tenths of a second faster than Heikki Kovalainen (Arden International) could manage. Heikki, the only man who can beat Nico to the title, will start alongside the championship leader on the front row for this afternoon's race.

The Finn's team-mate Nicolas Lapierre will start third. Giorgio Pantano will line up fourth for Super Nova International ahead of Nico's team-mate Alex Premat in fifth and Ernesto Viso (BCN Competicion) sixth.

Piquet and Carroll punished. Nelson Piquet Jr and Adam Carroll had their two best times taken from them after theyh set their quickest laps under yellow flags.thThe pair, who had been due to start from 7th and 11t places, will therefore line up in 17th and 19 positions respectively.

What about the championship? Up at the front, it's all about Nico and Heikki. The two points Nico gains for setting pole position means he now has a five point advantage over Heikki in the standings. Should Nico's score in the first race be four or more points greater than Heikki's, Nico will be crowned GP2 series champion.

1st Nico Rosberg ART Grand Prix.1:44.643
"This pole position is very important, definitely. It was really difficult to set up the car this morning, it was a catastrophe, but we worked hard and [second] qualifying was good and it went perfectly for me. I enjoy these one lap things anyway I go out like a bull and make it stick every time, so I'm happy with that. I'm really pleased two points already, and every point counts. I'm really trying to look at it like a normal race, like every other race. I'm just going to push and see what happens obviously I'm going to take a little bit less risk, but we'll see what happens."

2nd Heikki Kovalainen Arden International. +0.675
"I thought it was okay, but Nico managed to do a really quick lap. We didn't have a perfect balance but it was pretty good and this morning it was looking okay. I thought that we could fight for pole, but at the end there was no chance. The race is another thing, but it's certainly looking good for them [ART Grand Prix and Nico]. I'll try to get the lead at the start and then try to win the race, of course I've won races before when he's been quicker, like in Monza where he was clearly quicker. I think we can fight, and I will still fight until the last lap, of course, just to see what happens. We'll see, but it's not going to be easy they're looking sharp."

3rd Nicolas Lapierre Arden International. +0.889
"Qualifying was quite good. On the second set tyres we had a lot of traffic, which was horrible and we didn't get any time on this set. I'm quite happy because I've never been here, the team hasn't been here before, and I think we did a pretty good job. It's really good for the team. We have to push if Heikki wants to be champion, and we're going to push as hard as we can."

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