_R6T9160

STEFANO COLETTI FLIES TO MAIDEN MALAYSIAN POLE-

The Monegasque driver puts Rapax on top in closely fought qualifying session
 
Stefano Coletti put the record straight in today’s qualifying in Malaysia: the Monegasque driver snatched his first GP2 pole position with a blazing laptime of 1:44.280 in an extremely close session which saw him end up on top over James Calado and Felipe Nasr by four hundredths and eight hundredths respectively.
 
The session opened in scorching temperatures. All twenty-six drivers opted for soft tyres. Coletti was the first man to feed onto the track, but it was Sam Bird who set the early pace, closely followed by Marcus Ericsson. Nasr improved on the Brit’s laptime and went top although he hit traffic in sector 3.
 
Ten minutes into the session, both ART cars took to the track whilst Fabio Leimer edged Nasr out lapping the track one tenth quicker. Calado was finally on a flying lap and looked set to go top, but a small mistake in the third sector had him settle for P2. Halfway through the session, the drivers made their way back into the pits for a fresh set of option tyres. Coletti went back on track and found some extra pace to secure top spot. Having gotten the best out of his set of tyres, he made his way back to the pits, got out of his car and waited to see if he had done enough to retain pole.
 
At the chequered flag, and in spite of Calado and Nasr’s best efforts to reduce the gap to Coletti by a hair’s breadth, the Monegasque driver could enjoy his maiden pole position and pocket four points on the board early on. Behind the trio, Leimer secured fourth ahead of Bird who had an incident with Johnny Cecotto during the session (under investigation). Rookie Mitch Evans finished in sixth place ahead of Rio Haryanto, Rene Binder, Simon Trummer and Tom Dillmann.
 
With fourteen drivers running again within one second, a close battle with the top three, unpredictable weather, and new tyre strategies, the first race of the 2013 GP2 Series season will definitely be a race to watch!
 
Kuala Lumpur – Qualifying Session
Driver
Team
Laptime
Laps
1.
Stefano Coletti
Rapax
1:44.280
8
2.
James Calado
ART Grand Prix
1:44.284
8
3.
Felipe Nasr
Carlin
1:44.288
11
4.
Fabio Leimer
Racing Engineering
1:44.463
8
5.
Sam Bird
RUSSIAN TIME
1:44.598
9
6.
Mitch Evans
Arden International
1:44.618
12
7.
Rio Haryanto
Barwa Addax Team
1:44.681
10
8.
Rene Binder
Venezuela GP Lazarus
1:44.687
9
9.
Simon Trummer
Rapax
1:44.692
14
10.
Tom Dillmann
RUSSIAN TIME
1:44.731
11
11.
Julian Leal
Racing Engineering
1:44.732
11
12.
Sergio Canamasas
Caterham Racing
1:44.761
12
13.
Marcus Ericsson
DAMS
1:44.766
10
14.
Johnny Cecotto
Arden International
1:44.788
10
15.
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs
MP Motorsport
1:45.191
14
16.
Stéphane Richelmi
DAMS
1:45.262
11
17.
Conor Daly
Hilmer Motorsport
1:45.289
12
18.
Nathanaël Berthon
Trident Racing
1:45.378
11
19
Kevin Ceccon
Trident Racing
1:45.491
12
20.
Ma Qing Hua
Caterham Racing
1:45.497
10
21.
Daniel De Jong
MP Motorsport
1:45.522
13
22.
Daniel Abt
ART Grand Prix
1:45.593
9
23.
Jolyon Palmer
Carlin
1:45.662
10
24.
Jake Rosenzweig
Barwa Addax Team
1:45.708
11
25.
Pal Varhaug
Hilmer Motorsport
1:45.830
12
26.
Kevin Giovesi
Venezuela GP Lazarus
1:45.985
12