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Van der Garde tops crazy session

Giedo van der Garde will start from pole position for the second consecutive GP2 feature race after he came out on top in a controversial qualifying session

The entire 30-minute session was marred by incidents in traffic as drivers continually backed up to try and find clear space for their hot laps.

Van der Garde (Addax) had been involved in a clash when he ran into the back of Oliver Turvey at the Swimming Pool section with seven minutes remaining. But after coming in for repairs he went back out and snatched pole position from Sam Bird in the final minute.

Second-placed Bird was also caught up in a shunt, which involved his team-mate Marcus Ericsson. The Swede was on a hot lap as he came across Bird in the middle of the Swimming Pool section, and he ran over the back of the Briton.

The iSport drivers were not the only team-mates to collide, as DAMS pairing Romain Grosjean and Pal Varhaug had a much more spectacular accident.

Grosjean, who had found plenty of clear track in practice this morning, spent the whole session at the bottom of the timesheets as every lap he did was ruined by cars queuing up in the final sector.

When he came up behind Varhaug with six minutes remaining he tried to pass the Norwegian on the exit of La Rascasse. But Grosjean misjudged the pass, and as he hit Varhaug's right rear wheel it launched the Frenchman onto the top of his team-mate's car.

Both DAMS cars were heavily damaged, and Grosjean finished the session last, with a time outside 107 per cent of pole. However, due to his pacesetting practice performance this morning he will almost certain to be allowed to start the race.

Other incidents involved Dani Clos losing his front wing when trying to pass Bird into the final corner, while Stefano Coletti and Luiz Razia brought out the red flags halfway through the session when they collided at La Rascasse.

Luca Filippi was an early casualty, as he clouted the barriers at St Devote just eight minutes into qualifying.

Pos  Driver               Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Giedo van der Garde  Addax               1m21.781s
 2.  Sam Bird             iSport              1m21.876s  + 0.095s
 3.  Davide Valsecchi     AirAsia             1m22.198s  + 0.417s
 4.  Alvaro Parente       Racing Engineering  1m22.371s  + 0.590s
 5.  Stefano Coletti      Trident             1m22.449s  + 0.668s
 6.  Josef Kral           Arden               1m22.585s  + 0.804s
 7.  Max Chilton          Carlin              1m22.664s  + 0.883s
 8.  Jules Bianchi        ART                 1m21.991s  + 0.210s
 9.  Esteban Gutierrez    ART                 1m22.834s  + 1.053s
10.  Johnny Cecotto       Ocean               1m22.909s  + 1.128s
11.  Luca Filippi         Super Nova          1m22.929s  + 1.148s
12.  Charles Pic          Addax               1m23.077s  + 1.296s
13.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Trident             1m23.114s  + 1.333s
14.  Fabio Leimer         Rapax               1m23.217s  + 1.436s
15.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport              1m23.315s  + 1.534s
16.  Oliver Turvey        Carlin              1m23.373s  + 1.592s
17.  Luiz Razia           AirAsia             1m23.377s  + 1.596s
18.  Dani Clos            Racing Engineering  1m23.470s  + 1.689s
19.  Jolyon Palmer        Arden               1m23.496s  + 1.715s
20.  Julian Leal          Rapax               1m23.752s  + 1.971s
21.  Kevin Ceccon         Coloni              1m23.913s  + 2.132s
22.  Fairuz Fauzy         Super Nova          1m24.103s  + 2.322s
23.  Kevin Mirocha        Ocean               1m24.235s  + 2.454s
24.  Michael Herck        Coloni              1m24.466s  + 2.685s
25.  Pal Varhaug          DAMS                1m25.077s  + 3.296s
26.  Romain Grosjean      DAMS                1m32.079s  + 10.298s

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