GP2 driver Bruno Senna took pole position in the most dramatic way possible this afternoon in Magny-Cours by crossing the line a fraction of a second before hitting the wall heavily after bouncing over the kerbs in the final complex, claiming the top spot fractionally ahead of Romain Grosjean and Giorgio Pantano.
The Brazilian's final lap time of 1:22.250 was just 0.037 ahead of Grosjean, who in turn beat the Italian by just 0.014 in one of the most frantic qualifying sessions ever seen in the series.
The top three drivers alternated at the top of the timesheets throughout a scorchingly hot session: with temperatures soaring compared to this morning's free practice there was little to separate most of the drivers, seventeen of whom ultimately lapped within a second of the eventual pole time.
The biggest problem for most of the drivers was traffic: Ho-pin Tung, Alvaro Parente and Luca Filippi all spun on track but continued, and with so many drivers on the short circuit at the same time getting a clear lap was almost impossible before the stop for fresh tyres.
The three way battle at the front continued until the 25th minute, when Senna's heavy shunt brought out the red flags. With temperatures in the pits going through the roof the track finally cleared and Lucas di Grassi was the first man on track to take advantage, but when Jerome D'Ambrosio lost his rear and ended up in the gravel trap the resultant yellow flags put paid to anyone else's dreams of improvement.
Behind the top three Andreas Zuber, Sébastien Buemi, di Grassi, Kamui Kobayashi Vitaly Petrov, Pastor Maldonado and Karun Chandhok were left ruing missed opportunities, but they will all be hoping for better things to come in race one tomorrow afternoon.
Qualifying results:
Row 1
Bruno Senna - iSport - 1'22"250
Romain Grosjean - ART - 1'22"287
Row 2
Giorgio Pantano - Racing Engineering - 1'22"301
Andreas Zuber - Piquet - 1'22"380
Row 3
Sebastien Buemi - Arden - 1'22"619
Lucas Di Grassi - Campos - 1'22"708
Row 4
Kamui Kobayashi - Dams - 1'22"726
Vitaly Petrov - Campos - 1'22"774
Row 5
Pastor Maldonado - Piquet - 1'22"780
Karun Chandhok - iSport - 1'22"821
Row 6
Luca Filippi - ART - 1'22"956
Andy Soucek - Super Nova - 1'23"035
Row 7
Jerome D'Ambrosio - Dams - 1'23"094
Mike Conway - Trident - 1'23"154
Row 8
Diego Nunes - DPR - 1'23"158
Ben Hanley - Durango - 1'23"191
Row 9
Ho Pin Tung - Trident - 1'23"331
Adrian Valles - BCN - 1'23"372
Row 10
Yelmer Buurman - Arden - 1'23"441
Roldan Rodriguez - FMSI - 1'23"467
Row 11
Alvaro Parente - Super Nova - 1'23"787
Alberto Valerio - Durango - 1'23"853
Row 12
Marko Asmer - FMSI - 1'23"870
Javier Villa - Racing Engineering - 1'23"998
Row 13
Carlos Iaconelli - BCN - 1'24"784
Michael Herck - DPR - 1'25"668
The Brazilian's final lap time of 1:22.250 was just 0.037 ahead of Grosjean, who in turn beat the Italian by just 0.014 in one of the most frantic qualifying sessions ever seen in the series.
The top three drivers alternated at the top of the timesheets throughout a scorchingly hot session: with temperatures soaring compared to this morning's free practice there was little to separate most of the drivers, seventeen of whom ultimately lapped within a second of the eventual pole time.
The biggest problem for most of the drivers was traffic: Ho-pin Tung, Alvaro Parente and Luca Filippi all spun on track but continued, and with so many drivers on the short circuit at the same time getting a clear lap was almost impossible before the stop for fresh tyres.
The three way battle at the front continued until the 25th minute, when Senna's heavy shunt brought out the red flags. With temperatures in the pits going through the roof the track finally cleared and Lucas di Grassi was the first man on track to take advantage, but when Jerome D'Ambrosio lost his rear and ended up in the gravel trap the resultant yellow flags put paid to anyone else's dreams of improvement.
Behind the top three Andreas Zuber, Sébastien Buemi, di Grassi, Kamui Kobayashi Vitaly Petrov, Pastor Maldonado and Karun Chandhok were left ruing missed opportunities, but they will all be hoping for better things to come in race one tomorrow afternoon.
Qualifying results:
Row 1
Bruno Senna - iSport - 1'22"250
Romain Grosjean - ART - 1'22"287
Row 2
Giorgio Pantano - Racing Engineering - 1'22"301
Andreas Zuber - Piquet - 1'22"380
Row 3
Sebastien Buemi - Arden - 1'22"619
Lucas Di Grassi - Campos - 1'22"708
Row 4
Kamui Kobayashi - Dams - 1'22"726
Vitaly Petrov - Campos - 1'22"774
Row 5
Pastor Maldonado - Piquet - 1'22"780
Karun Chandhok - iSport - 1'22"821
Row 6
Luca Filippi - ART - 1'22"956
Andy Soucek - Super Nova - 1'23"035
Row 7
Jerome D'Ambrosio - Dams - 1'23"094
Mike Conway - Trident - 1'23"154
Row 8
Diego Nunes - DPR - 1'23"158
Ben Hanley - Durango - 1'23"191
Row 9
Ho Pin Tung - Trident - 1'23"331
Adrian Valles - BCN - 1'23"372
Row 10
Yelmer Buurman - Arden - 1'23"441
Roldan Rodriguez - FMSI - 1'23"467
Row 11
Alvaro Parente - Super Nova - 1'23"787
Alberto Valerio - Durango - 1'23"853
Row 12
Marko Asmer - FMSI - 1'23"870
Javier Villa - Racing Engineering - 1'23"998
Row 13
Carlos Iaconelli - BCN - 1'24"784
Michael Herck - DPR - 1'25"668