Karthikeyan cruises to AutoGP pole

Narain Karthikeyan cruised to his second straight Auto GP pole today at Mugello as he topped the qualifying session for the 5th round of the 2013 series. The Indian-born racer, lined-up by Super Nova International, was able to repeat his Silverstone run by edging Kevin Giovesi with a best lap of 1:34.583. Giovesi also repeated the front row start scored in the UK, a remarkable accomplishment considered his so far short experience in the Coloni-promoted championship.

Row 2 is set to be an all-Italian one with Friday's testing leader Vittorio Ghirelli (Super Nova International) and Sergio Campana. Driving for Ibiza Racing Team, the latter will benefit from a good chance to trim his gap in standings by taking-off in front of current leader Kimiya Sato. The Japanese driver, fielded in Auto GP by Euronova, will take part in next week's Silverstone Formula 1 test, following in the footsteps of former series' graduates Romain Grosjean (2010) and Kevin Ceccon (2011).

Young Romanian Robert Visoiu, driving for Ghinzani Motorsport, scored the 6th fastest lap but will be penalized 5 positions due to a violation at Silverstone. His place will be filled by Andrea Roda (Virtuosi UK) while fourth row is set to be shared by Dutchman Meindert van Buuern (MP Motorsport) and Hungarian Tamas Pal Kiss (Zele Racing). The top-10 will be rounded out by experienced former F.1 driver Christian Klien (Zele Racing) and GP2 Series regular Daniel De Jong (MP Motorsport).