Palmer grabs maiden GP2 pole, Rossi 4th

Jolyon Palmer

Jolyon Palmer picked up where he left off earlier today: the Brit dominated an eventful and tricky qualifying session at Marina Bay with a blazing lap time of 1:53.600. He beat teammate Felipe Nasr by two tenths. Series leader Fabio Leimer finished third, a hair’s breadth off the Brazilian.

Alexander Rossi and Nasr were leading the pack when the track went live. All drivers opted for the Super Soft Pirelli tires. In the opening stages of the session, Nasr was quick to set the early pace in 1:54.244, his teammate in tow but two tenths slower. Mitch Evans locked up at Turn 10 and crashed into the barrier. The yellow flags came out and the track was cleared with eighteen minutes left on the clock.

Leimer was able to find a clear lap and dipped under 1m54s bettering Nasr’s time by three tenths. Soon after that, Daniel Abt stopped his ART car at Turn 14 followed by newcomer Gianmarco Raimondo who lost control of his Trident machine and smashed it at Turn 18. The session was red flagged with fourteen minutes to go.

At the restart, traffic intensified on the track, but just like he did during today’s free practice, Palmer managed to find a clear lap and the extra pace to improve his lap time and edge Leimer out of the top spot. Nasr also improved his best lap time, enough to move ahead of the Swiss, but not enough to claim pole.

And so, at the checkered flag, both Carlin cars came back to the pits and waited to see if Leimer was going to be able to beat them on his last attempt, but he couldn’t and it was Palmer’s time to celebrate on his first GP2 pole position. Behind the trio, Rossi finished fourth (his best qualifying result) ahead of Stéphane Richelmi, Tom Dillmann, Sergio Canamasas, James Calado, Marcus Ericsson and Sam Bird who will have to work extra hard tomorrow to try and catch up with title rivals Leimer and Nasr.

Singapore – Qualifying Practice

Pos Driver Team Lap Time Laps
1. Jolyon Palmer Carlin 1:53.600 11
2. Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:53.852 10
3. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering 1:53.870 12
4. Alexander Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:54.285 13
5. Stéphane Richelmi DAMS 1:54.403 11
6. Tom Dillmann RUSSIAN TIME1 1:54.695 10
7. Sergio Canamasas EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:54.812 12
8. James Calado ART Grand Prix 1:54.822 13
9. Marcus Ericsson DAMS 1:54.987 13
10. Sam Bird RUSSIAN TIME 1:55.163 12
11. Stefano Coletti Rapax 1:55.25 13
12. Julian Leal Racing Engineering 1:55.268 13
13. Nathanael Berthon Trident Racing 1:55.567 11
14. Johnny Cecotto Arden International 1:55.683 14
15. Dani Clos MP Motorsport 1:55.784 10
16. Rene Binder Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:55.880 10
17. Daniel Abt ART Grand Prix 1:56.048 6
18. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Hilmer Motorsport 1:56.057 13
19 Jake Rosenzweig Barwa Addax Team 1:56.114 11
20. Jon Lancaster Hilmer Motorsport 1:56.210 13
21. Vittorio Ghirelli Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:56.333 13
22. Rio Haryanto Barwa Addax Team 1:56.753 12
23. Simon Trummer Rapax 1:57.153 13
24. Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:57.560 11
25. Gianmarco Raimondo Trident Racing 1:57.837 6
26. Mitch Evans Arden International 2:29.069 2