Former Renault driver Romain Grosjean has claimed the opening GP2 pole position of the 2011 season, avoiding a 360-degree spin to do so at Istanbul Park. Britain’s Sam Bird will share the front row in Saturday’s season-opening Feature Race as Luca Filippi and Jules Bianchi start third and fourth.
After rain earlier in the day, the dry half-hour session still featured a number of incidents, with Grosjean’s DAMS car eventually leading the way with a best effort of 1:34.398 - just under a tenth ahead of Bird as one second covered the top 18 runners.
The action was briefly broken up by a red flag for 2009-10 Asia title winner Davide Valsecchi, who managed eighth place despite his AirAsia car stopping on-track before rolling backwards. A second stoppage soon followed as World Series by Renault Champion Mikhail Aleshin suffered a heavy accident at the end of the back straight.
Dani Clos and Luiz Razia will fill Row 3 as Carlin’s Max Chilton sets off from 11th.
Saturday’s GP2 Feature Race begins at 12:40pm local time (BST +2)
Series
GP2
Personalities
Romain Grosjean
Teams
DAMS
Other
DTM Tickets (best price guarantee!) at Sportstadium.com
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  R. Grosjean | DAMS | 01:34.398 | 11 |
| 2. | S. Bird | iSport | 01:34.483 | 13 |
| 3. | L. Filippi | Super Nova | 01:34.709 | 11 |
| 4. | J. Bianchi | Lotus ART | 01:34.784 | 12 |
| 5. | D. Clos | Racing Engin. | 01:34.797 | 12 |
| 6. | L. Razia | Team Air Asia | 01:34.888 | 11 |
| 7. | C. Pic | Barwa Addax | 01:34.954 | 13 |
| 8. | D. Valsecchi | Team Air Asia | 01:34.975 | 13 |
| 9. | C. Vietoris | Racing Engin. | 01:34.981 | 12 |
| 10. | J. Kral | Arden | 01:35.050 | 11 |
| Full results | ||||
| Romain Grosjean | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
| More Romain Grosjean photos | |||
English
Nederlands
Español
Italiano
