Soucek takes race one pole
Andy Soucek has taken pole position at Istanbul Park, ahead of this afternoon's inaugural race outside of Europe for the World Series by Renault
The qualifying session was split into two groups determined by championship positions, with Soucek running in the first A Group. The Spaniard's pole time of 1:39.874 compares respectably with Nico Rosberg's 2005 GP2 pole of 1:38.416.
Starting alongside Soucek is Sweden's Alx Danielsson, a performance all the more impressive as his Comtec team are operating without an engineer at the circuit. Roly Vincini, not a keen flyer, abandoned his attempt to drive to Turkey and has resorted to liasing with the team by telephone.
Third fastest was Borja Garcia. The Spaniard is one of only two drivers to have any meaningful experience of the circuit after visiting the podium here last August in GP2. Garcia initially capitalised on this to head the times in Group A, however with seven minutes of the session remaining Soucek displaced the RC driver by breaking into the 1:39s.
Joint championship leaders Pastor Maldonado and Eric Salignon look set to resume their rivalry by starting in fourth and fifth places respectively. Maldonado's efforts were thwarted when he suffered a spin at the challenging Turn 8. The ensuing red flag thwarted the rest of the B Group runners' efforts to improve their times, and Maldonado was duly penalised by having his fastest lap stripped.
Ben Hanley was best placed of the British drivers in sixth position for Cram after a strong late run in the B Group.
Race one grid:
Pos Driver Team 1. Andy Soucek Interwetten 2. Alx Danielsson Comtec 3. Borja Garcia RC 4. Pastor Maldonado Draco 5. Eric Salignon Interwetten 6. Ben Hanley Cram 7. Alvaro Parente Victory 8. Enrico Toccacelo Eurointernational 9. Christian Montanari Prema 10. James Rossiter Pons 11. Hayanari Shimoda Victory 12. Colin Fleming Carlin 13. Steven Kane Epsilon 14. Sean McIntosh KTR 15. Jaap van Lagen Comtec 16. David Valsecchi Epsilon 17. Tomas Kostka Draco 18. Robbie Kerr KTR 19. Michael Aleshin Carlin 20. Patrick Pilet GD 21. Gregory Franchi Prema 22. Milos Pavlovic Cram 23. Bruce Jouanny RC 24. Alvaro Barba Jenzer 25. Jerome D'Ambrosio Tech 1 26. Celso Miguez Pons 27. Matteo Meneghello GD 28. Ryo Fukuda Tech 1 29. Alessandro Bonetti Jenzer 30. Jason Tahinci Eurointernational Qualifying Group A times: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Andy Soucek Interwetten 1:39.874 2. Borja Garcia RC 1:40.050 + 0.176 3. Eric Salignon Interwetten 1:40.193 + 0.319 4. Alvaro Parente Victory 1:40.346 + 0.472 5. Christian Montanari Prema 1:40.635 + 0.761 6. Hayanari Shimoda Victory 1:40.730 + 0.856 7. Steven Kane Epsilon 1:40.904 + 1.030 8. Jaap van Lagen Comtec 1:40.973 + 1.099 9. Tomas Kostka Draco 1:40.986 + 1.112 10. Michael Aleshin Carlin 1:41.009 + 1.135 11. Gregory Franchi Prema 1:41.047 + 1.173 12. Bruce Jouanny RC 1:41.325 + 1.451 13. Jerome D'Ambrosio Tech 1 1:41.686 + 1.782 14. Matteo Meneghello GD 1:41.881 + 2.007 15. Alessandro Bonetti Jenzer 1:41.981 + 2.107 Qualifying Group B times: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Alx Danielsson Comtec 1:40.002 2. Pastor Maldonado Draco 1:40.090 + 0.088 3. Ben Hanley Cram 1:40.405 + 0.403 4. Enrico Toccacelo Eurointernational 1:40.648 + 0.646 5. James Rossiter Pons 1:40.657 + 0.655 6. Colin Fleming Carlin 1:40.693 + 0.691 7. Sean McIntosh KTR 1:40.794 + 0.792 8. David Valsecchi Epsilon 1:40.873 + 0.871 9. Robbie Kerr KTR 1:40.945 + 0.943 10. Patrick Pilet GD 1:41.057 + 1.055 11. Milos Pavlovic Cram 1:41.285 + 1.283 12. Alvaro Barba Jenzer 1:41.513 + 1.511 13. Celso Miguez Pons 1:41.697 + 1.695 14. Ryo Fukuda Tech 1 1:42.203 + 2.201 15. Jason Tahinci Eurointernational 1:42.442 + 2.440
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