Grosjean takes GP2 pole at Silverstone

Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean has claimed his third pole of the season in blustery conditions this afternoon here in Silverstone, finding a clear lap while his rivals tripped over themselves in traffic to take the top spot ahead of Alberto Valerio and Alvaro Parente.

Grosjean set a best time of 1:25.899 on a clear lap after exiting the pits with fresh tires ahead of the remainder of the field, cutting two tenths out of Valerio's time to claim pole while his rivals tripped over each other trying to beat him.

The fight for the top spot between the pair was intense: the Brazilian set the early pace until Grosjean bested all three sectors to slot in ahead, but with much of the field coming in to the pits halfway through the session one last, clear lap for Valerio looked to have solidified him at the top, until Grosjean escaped ahead of everyone else and stole it back.

Romain Grosjean

In the closing minutes though it looked set to tumble: Jérôme d'Ambrosio was the first man to miss out because of traffic, having to make do with fourth ahead of Lucas di Grassi, Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hülkenberg, all of whom had a legitimate claim for pole before having their laps spoilt for them. Today's pole was one second faster than the best lap from last year: the first thirteen drivers were ahead of that time, which promises a blistering pace for race one tomorrow afternoon.

Davide Valsecchi and Diego Nunes will lose five grid positions for tomorrow's race after the stewards judged them to have blocked their competitors during this afternoon's qualifying session in Silverstone.

Nunes will now take to the grid in sixteenth position, while Valsecchi will start from twentieth.

The stewards also announced that Roldan Rodriguez, Sergio Perez and Ricardo Teixeira, who all failed to complete a lap in qualifying, will be allowed to start from the rear of the grid after setting times in free practice which were within 107% of Romain Grosjean's pole lap.

Results