Tom Dillmann grabs maiden GP2 pole

Tom Dillmann grabs maiden GP2 pole – 
 
RUSSIAN TIME lock out front row in Budapest
 
Tom Dillmann is a happy boy today: the Frenchman bagged his first ever GP2 pole position in today’s qualifying session at the Hungaroring with a laptime of 1:28.219, a hair’s breadth ahead of teammate Sam Bird. Fabio Leimer took third.
 
It was still very hot in Hungary when the pitlane opened for today’s qualifying session. Marcus Ericsson was the man who set the early pace dipping under 1m29s with teammate Stéphane Richelmi in tow, both men showing once again how quick reigning champions DAMS are. Jolyon Palmer and Johnny Cecotto also found the pace to break the 1m29s barrier.
 
But on his first fast lap, Dillmann bettered Ericsson’s laptime by five tenths and claimed the top spot, and little did he know at that point that it was going to be enough to grab pole at the chequered flag. His teammate Bird moved up to second on the same lap but was four tenths slower than the Frenchman, leaving the DAMS pair in P3 and P4.
 
All the drivers returned to the pits for a set of fresh Soft Pirelli tyres and when the action picked up again, it was all about trying to get as close as possible to Dillmann’s laptime. Felipe Nasr who had only completed two laps in this morning’s free practice session moved up to third. That’s when Fabio Leimer was able to find some extra pace and clocked a laptime that put him second on the timesheet. In the dying minutes of the session, Bird put his head down and bettered the Swiss’ time, but ended 0.07s shy off Dillmann and the pole position.
 
At the chequered flag, Dillmann was all smiles as he pocketed his maiden GP2 pole and newcomers RUSSIAN TIME enjoyed their first front row lock out. Leimer ended third ahead of Nasr, Ericsson, Richelmi, Palmer, Rio Hayranto, Alexander Rossi and Daniel De Jong.
 
Budapest – Qualifying Session
 
Driver
Team
Laptime
Laps
1.
Tom Dillmann
RUSSIAN TIME
1:28.219
11
2.
Sam Bird
RUSSIAN TIME
1:28.296
11
3.
Fabio Leimer
Racing Engineering
1:28.507
13
4.
Felipe Nasr
Carlin
1:28.679
14
5.
Marcus Ericsson
DAMS
1:28.709
12
6.
Stéphane Richelmi
DAMS
1:28.753
10
7.
Jolyon Palmer
Carlin
1:28.802
12
8.
Rio Haryanto
Barwa Addax Team
1:28.826
12
9.
Alexander Rossi
EQ8 Caterham Racing
1:28.851
14
10.
Daniel De Jong
MP Motorsport
1:28.855
11
11.
Johnny Cecotto
Arden International
1:28.927
13
12.
Mitch Evans
Arden International
1:29.012
10
13.
Nathanaël Berthon
Trident Racing
1:29.020
14
14.
James Calado
ART Grand Prix
1:29.128
11
15.
Jon Lancaster
Hilmer Motorsport
1:29.136
10
16.
Jake Rosenzweig
Barwa Addax Team
1:29.206
12
17.
Simon Trummer
Rapax
1:29.403
15
18.
Stefano Coletti
Rapax
1:29.519
13
19
Julian Leal
Racing Engineering
1:29.524
12
20.
Daniel Abt
ART Grand Prix
1:29.735
13
21.
Rene Binder
Venezuela GP Lazarus
1:29.742
14
22.
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs
Hilmer Motorsport
1:29.793
13
23.
Dani Clos
MP Motorsport
1:29.877
12
24.
Sergio Canamasas
EQ8 Caterham Racing
1:30.078
13
25.
Vittorio Ghirelli
Venezuela GP Lazarus
1:30.251
14
26.
Ricardo Teixeira
Trident Racing
1:31.254
15