Grosjean storms to Barcelona pole

Romain Grosjean has taken the first points of the 2009 season by claiming pole for tomorrow's race one in Barcelona, just ahead of Lucas di Grassi and Vitaly Petrov.

The Frenchman stopped the clock at 1:27.510 in the fifth minute of the session, but the Brazilian ran him very close: di Grassi's best time was just 0.021 behind, with Petrov a further five tenths further back.

With temperatures in the pitlane soaring as the session got underway, the majority of the field were immediately on track to take advantage: Giacomo Ricci and Pastor Maldonado set the early pace before Grosjean laid down the challenge, and the fight was on.

Di Grassi, Andreas Zuber and Jerome d'Ambrosio were the principle challengers for the top spot, and Grosjean had to re-emerge late in the session to cover himself: the Frenchman was held up by traffic on his fastest lap, but despite last minute challenges from his teammate and di Grassi, Grosjean had just done enough to claim the first pole of the year.

Just behind the top three were Nico Hülkenberg, Zuber, Luca Filippi, d'Ambrosio and Diego Nunes, although Filippi will lose 3 spots on the grid as a result of his penalty from this morning's practice. With 15 drivers within a second of pole, and 24 drivers within 2 seconds, expect fireworks from the start of tomorrow's race.

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