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 1Bruno Senna - iSport - 1'22"250 Romain Grosjean - ART - 1'22"287 Row 2Giorgio Pantano - Racing Engineering - 1'22"301 Andreas Zuber - Piquet - 1'22"380 Row 3Sebastien Buemi - Arden - 1'22"619 Lucas Di Grassi - Campos - 1'22"708 Row 4Kamui Kobayashi - Dams - 1'22"726 Vitaly Petrov - Campos - 1'22"774 Row 5Pastor Maldonado - Piquet - 1'22"780 Karun Chandhok - iSport - 1'22"821 Row 6Luca Filippi - ART - 1'22"956 Andy Soucek - Super Nova - 1'23"035 Row 7Jerome D'Ambrosio - Dams - 1'23"094 Mike Conway - Trident - 1'23"154 Row 8Diego Nunes - DPR - 1'23"158 Ben Hanley - Durango - 1'23"191 Row 9Ho Pin Tung - Trident - 1'23"331 Adrian Valles - BCN - 1'23"372 Row 10Yelmer Buurman - Arden - 1'23"441 Roldan Rodriguez - FMSI - 1'23"467 Row 11Alvaro Parente - Super Nova - 1'23"787 Alberto Valerio - Durango - 1'23"853 Row 12Marko Asmer - FMSI - 1'23"870 Javier Villa - Racing Engineering - 1'23"998 Row 13Carlos Iaconelli - BCN - 1'24"784 Michael Herck - DPR - 1'25"668
Qualifying results: Row 1Bruno Senna - iSport - 1'22"250 Romain Grosjean - ART - 1'22"287 Row 2Giorgio Pantano - Racing Engineering - 1'22"301 Andreas Zuber - Piquet - 1'22"380 Row 3Sebastien Buemi - Arden - 1'22"619 Lucas Di Grassi - Campos - 1'22"708 Row 4Kamui Kobayashi - Dams - 1'22"726 Vitaly Petrov - Campos - 1'22"774 Row 5Pastor Maldonado - Piquet - 1'22"780 Karun Chandhok - iSport - 1'22"821 Row 6Luca Filippi - ART - 1'22"956 Andy Soucek - Super Nova - 1'23"035 Row 7Jerome D'Ambrosio - Dams - 1'23"094 Mike Conway - Trident - 1'23"154 Row 8Diego Nunes - DPR - 1'23"158 Ben Hanley - Durango - 1'23"191 Row 9Ho Pin Tung - Trident - 1'23"331 Adrian Valles - BCN - 1'23"372 Row 10Yelmer Buurman - Arden - 1'23"441 Roldan Rodriguez - FMSI - 1'23"467 Row 11Alvaro Parente - Super Nova - 1'23"787 Alberto Valerio - Durango - 1'23"853 Row 12Marko Asmer - FMSI - 1'23"870 Javier Villa - Racing Engineering - 1'23"998 Row 13Carlos Iaconelli - BCN - 1'24"784 Michael Herck - DPR - 1'25"668