Sergei Afanasiev takes pole position in Auto GP at Valencia
Sergei Afanasiev took pole position for Saturday's Auto GP race at Valencia in Spain for DAMS, topping a thrillingly-close session that was twice interrupted by red flags
After yesterday's unseasonal rainstorm that afflicted free practice, qualifying took place under blue skies. Adam Carroll, who was called up to race only a few days ago, set the early pace for Campos Racing, but soon after the first red flag, it was his team-mate Adrien Tambay who stole top spot.
Following another red flag, for Francesco Dracone (Ombra) going off at the final corner, Ombra's Kevin Ceccon grabbed pole with just five minutes remaining on the clock. But Afanasiev was not to be denied, and he popped in a 1m23.436s effort that remained unbeaten until the end. This was helped by Adrian Campos Jr spinning off at Turn 8 late on, which brought out yellow flags in sector two.
Afanasiev's time was 0.03 seconds faster than Ceccon's, while Tambay's best lap was just 0.077s off pole. Carroll's time set on just his fourth lap proved to be the best he could manage, which was enough for fourth position.
Samuele Butarelli was fifth fastest for TP Formula, ahead of Fabio Onidi (Lazarus), Fabrizio Crestani (Lazarus) and practice pacesetter Luca Filippi (Super Nova).
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Sergei Afanasiev DAMS 1m23.436s 2. Kevin Ceccon Ombra 1m23.466s + 0.030s 3. Adrien Tambay Campos 1m23.513s + 0.077s 4. Adam Carroll Campos 1m23.574s + 0.138s 5. Samuele Buttarelli TP 1m23.617s + 0.181s 6. Fabio Onidi Lazarus 1m23.658s + 0.222s 7. Fabrizio Crestani Lazarus 1m23.714s + 0.278s 8. Luca Filippi Super Nova 1m23.746s + 0.310s 9. Rio Haryanto DAMS 1m23.830s + 0.394s 10. Giovanni Venturini Durango 1m24.090s + 0.654s 11. Pasquale di Sabatino TP 1m24.113s + 0.677s 12. Adrian Campos Jr Campos 1m24.128s + 0.692s 13. Daniel de Jong MP 1m24.531s + 1.095s 14. Francesco Dracone Emmebi 1m25.996s + 2.560s 15. Giuseppe Cipriani Durango 1m26.064s + 2.628s
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