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Grosjean on pole for Asia opener

Romain Grosjean will start on pole position for the opening GP2 Asia round in Abu Dhabi after a commanding performance in qualifying at Yas Marina

The ex-Formula 1 driver was in front for the majority of the late-afternoon session, putting in an unbeatable early 1m36.212s effort on a shorter version of the circuit than that usually used by F1 and GP2. Grosjean then cemented his and the DAMS team's pole by improving to 1m36.041s late on.

ART's Jules Bianchi will start second, 0.407 seconds slower than his fellow F1 reserve.

AirAsia got its GP2 career off to a great start as reigning GP2 Asia champion Davide Valsecchi put its lead car third on the grid, alongside Racing Engineering's Dani Clos.

Giedo van der Garde (Addax) made a late jump to fifth, demoting iSport's Marcus Ericsson.

Carlin, the other new team in the field, also began impressively as Max Chilton showed his best GP2 form yet to qualify seventh.

Practice pacesetter Josef Kral (Arden), top rookie Esteban Gutierrez (ART) and Racing Engineering's Nathanael Berthon completed the top 10, while Sam Bird will be disappointed with 11th in the other iSport car.

Pos  Driver               Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Romain Grosjean      DAMS                1m36.041s
 2.  Jules Bianchi        ART                 1m36.448s  + 0.407s
 3.  Davide Valsecchi     AirAsia             1m36.501s  + 0.460s
 4.  Dani Clos            Racing Engineering  1m36.614s  + 0.573s
 5.  Giedo van der Garde  Addax               1m36.658s  + 0.617s
 6.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport              1m36.659s  + 0.618s
 7.  Max Chilton          Carlin              1m36.693s  + 0.652s
 8.  Josef Kral           Arden               1m36.724s  + 0.683s
 9.  Esteban Gutierrez    ART                 1m36.741s  + 0.700s
10.  Nathanael Berthon    Racing Engineering  1m36.825s  + 0.784s
11.  Sam Bird             iSport              1m36.830s  + 0.789s
12.  Michael Herck        Coloni              1m36.863s  + 0.822s
13.  Oliver Turvey        Ocean               1m36.875s  + 0.834s
14.  Charles Pic          Addax               1m36.961s  + 0.920s
15.  Fabio Leimer         Rapax               1m37.047s  + 1.006s
16.  Johnny Cecotto       Super Nova          1m37.129s  + 1.088s
17.  Julian Leal          Rapax               1m37.145s  + 1.104s
18.  Jolyon Palmer        Arden               1m37.305s  + 1.264s
19.  Stefano Coletti      Trident             1m37.329s  + 1.288s
20.  Andrea Caldarelli    Ocean               1m37.345s  + 1.304s
21.  Luiz Razia           AirAsia             1m37.426s  + 1.385s
22.  Mikhail Aleshin      Carlin              1m37.535s  + 1.494s
23.  Fairuz Fauzy         Super Nova          1m37.572s  + 1.531s
24.  Pal Varhaug          DAMS                1m37.632s  + 1.591s
25.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Trident             1m37.669s  + 1.628s
26.  James Jakes          Coloni              1m37.741s  + 1.700s

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