Luiz Razia powers to maiden GP2 pole in Budapest

Luiz Razia

Luiz Razia snatched his first ever GP2 pole position for Caterham Team AirAsia – also a first for the Malaysian squad, today at Hungaroring in a closely fought qualifying session that saw the young Brazilian go top in the dying minutes ahead of Luca Filippi and Marcus Ericsson.

The excepted thunderstorms were nowhere in sight as the pitlane opened and it was on a dry track and warm temperatures that the thirty minute session started. Already quick in this morning’s free practice, Fabio Leimer was the first one to set the pace in a 1:30.803. But ten minutes into the session two men looked like serious pole contenders: Romain Grosjean claimed the top spot but was edged out seconds later by Razia who bettered the Frenchman’s time by 0.02s.

As most of the drivers re-entered pitlane at mid-session for fresh rubbers, Filippi took advantage of a clearer track to go quickest by 0.2s before making his way back to the pits. When the action picked up again and the drivers went back on track for a last stint, Filippi was sitting pretty at the top of the timesheet, Giedo van der Garde in tow. The Dutchman however was once again stricken by mechanical gremlins and made his way back to the pits at a very slow pace. He rejoined with seven minutes left on the clock, but could not improve. In P3, Grosjean was looking for more but never seemed to find the extra pace on a busy track.

With five minutes left on the clock, Ericsson put his head down and moved up to P2, but it was Razia who eventually found his way to pole position posting a laptime of 1:30.411. On his last attempt, Filippi looked set to improve the Brazilian’s time with a quickest sector 1, but Adam Carroll spun and briefly stopped at Turn 6 prompting a yellow flag and ending the Italian’s hopes.

Razia could finally pocket his first GP2 pole ahead of Filippi and Ericsson. Charles Pic finished P4 ahead of Series leader and title rival Grosjean. Jules Bianchi, Giedo van der Garde, Fabio Leimer, Esteban Gutierrez and Sam Bird rounded up the Top ten.

Budapest – Qualifying session