Qualifying report
FIA F2
Leimer flies to Silverstone pole
Fabio Leimer has decimated his rivals with an untouchable string of laps in this afternoon's qualifying session in Silverstone
Edited: Jul 10, 2012, 8:18 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Swiss driver dominates wet qualifying
Fabio Leimer has decimated his rivals with an untouchable string of laps in this afternoon's qualifying session in Silverstone that put him almost a full second ahead of his closest competitors Johnny Cecotto and local driver Jolyon Palmer to claim an easy pole position for tomorrow's feature race.
Fabio Leimer
Photo by: GP2 Media Service
The Swiss driver stopped the clock at 2:01.889 in cold, wet conditions, with temperatures dropping further from the earlier lows in free practice this morning. Leimer set the running for almost the whole session, with his rivals seemingly unable to do anything about his pace in the treacherous conditions.
Series leader Davide Valsecchi was the first man on track, hopeful of taking advantage of a clear track in the session which promised to be one of the most difficult in recent memory, and duly set the running next time around. But Leimer cut 2 seconds out of the Italian's time to be the first man into the 2:07s, and although Valsecchi sneaked ahead on his next lap, it was the Swiss driver who was to set a string of fastest laps from then on, seemingly in competition only with himself.
The rest of the field were determined to provide some competition, but each time they closed a little on his times it seemed to spur Leimer into an even faster lap. This continued until the 20 minute mark, when Marcus Ericsson and Johnny Cecotto slowed and stopped on circuit, prompting the red flags to make a first appearance in the session. The Venezuelan was pushed from the pitlane entrance back into the pits and was accordingly able to take the re-start.
With ten minutes remaining there was little to lose, but although the rain seemed to ease slightly it was hardly optimal conditions for lap times. A number of drivers slowed and stopped in the closing minutes, possibly having run out of fuel in the awkward conditions, but happily managed to roll off the circuit to avoid anything other than local yellows.
With one minute to go Palmer found enough for P3, with Cecotto improving his best time just after that to hold on to 2nd place, but both drivers were still almost a second off Leimer's pace, although they displaced Stefano Coletti, Esteban Gutiérrez, James Calado, Rio Haryanto, Max Chilton, Luiz Razia and Giedo van der Garde in the process, setting up an interesting set of duels for tomorrow's feature race.
Source: GP2 Series
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Leimer dominates qualifying on very wet Silverstone Circuit
Next article Mexico’s Gutiérrez ends up with surprising Feature race victory at Silverstone
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Max Chilton
Carlin committed to IndyCar, hopes to run two cars in 2022
IndyCar
IndyCar
Carlin committed to IndyCar, hopes to run two cars in 2022
Chilton, Carlin to miss GP of Indianapolis
IndyCar
IndyCar
Grand Prix of Indianapolis Race 1
Chilton, Carlin to miss GP of Indianapolis
Carlin confirms Chilton’s IndyCar schedule for 2021
IndyCar
IndyCar
Carlin confirms Chilton’s IndyCar schedule for 2021
Latest news
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 26 min
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
Hockenheim in talks with F1 despite “virtually zero” public funding
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 1 h
Hockenheim in talks with F1 despite “virtually zero” public funding
Philipp Eng and BMW to part ways after 11 years
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 2 h
Philipp Eng and BMW to part ways after 11 years
Frankie Muniz offers new details on 2027 NASCAR plans
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Talladega
2 h
Frankie Muniz offers new details on 2027 NASCAR plans
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe