Hamilton takes Monaco pole
Lewis Hamilton displayed imperious form in qualifying for Saturday's GP2 race at Monaco, dominating despite the very obvious pitfalls of a 30-minute qualifying session for 26 cars around the narrowest of street circuits
ART Grand Prix's Hamilton led the way for most of the session, setting a time of 1:21.748 on his very first flying lap that was miles clear of everyone else.
His idea of a 'banker' lap was wise, as the session was punctuated by red flags, the first of which came moments later when Giorgio Pantano (FMS) stuttered to a halt at the Swimming Pool.
When it resumed, Hamilton's next effort was 1:20.606, enforcing his advantage over his rivals.
The second red flag came halfway through, as Jason Tahinci (FMS) spun at Mirabeau, just as Fairuz Fauzy (Super Nova) rotated at Casino Square, somehow without hitting anything but blocking the track.
Only some swift marshalling avoided a third stoppage soon after when Ernesto Viso (iSport) understeered into the Ste Devote tyre wall and Olivier Pla (DPR Direxiv), second fastest at the time, ploughed into him hard.
Pla's teammate Clivio Piccione wisely took to the escape road at this point, otherwise it would have doubled DPR's workload.
Hamilton steered clear of the dramas, working his time down to 1:20.564 with a few minutes remaining. Pla could only stand and watch as he tumbled from second to fifth, with Franck Perera (DAMS) the only man who came close to Hamilton's time. His 1:20.717 was still over a quarter of a second adrift, however.
Gimmi Bruni leapt up to third in the closing stages for Trident, while Hamilton's teammate Alexandre Premat looked very ragged on his way to fourth.
Behind Pla and Piccione, last year's winner Adam Carroll (Racing Engineering) was seventh, ahead of Adrian Valles (Campos), Felix Portiero (Campos) and Andres Zuber (Trident).
Championship leader Nelson Piquet (Piquet Sports) once again failed to shine and will start from outside the top 10.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Hamilton ART Grand Prix 1:20.430 17 2. Perera DAMS 1:20.717 + 0.287 19 3. Bruni Trident Racing 1:21.155 + 0.725 17 4. Premat ART Grand Prix 1:21.227 + 0.797 19 5. Pla DPR Direxiv 1:21.277 + 0.847 10 6. Piccione DPR Direxiv 1:21.386 + 0.956 18 7. Carroll Racing Engineering 1:21.542 + 1.112 18 8. Valles Campos Racing 1:21.616 + 1.186 19 9. Porteiro Campos Racing 1:21.679 + 1.249 16 10. Zuber Trident Racing 1:21.744 + 1.314 17 11. Di Grassi Durango 1:21.926 + 1.496 15 12. Piquet Jr. Piquet Sports 1:21.940 + 1.510 19 13. Villa Racing Engineering 1:22.075 + 1.645 16 14. Lapierre Arden International Ltd 1:22.112 + 1.682 19 15. Lopez Super Nova International 1:22.296 + 1.866 16 16. Gommendy iSport International 1:22.377 + 1.947 18 17. Glock BCN Competicion 1:22.428 + 1.998 17 18. Pantano FMS International 1:22.474 + 2.044 10 19. Monfardini DAMS 1:22.620 + 2.190 18 20. Ammermueller Arden International Ltd 1:22.702 + 2.272 18 21. Fauzy Super Nova International 1:23.231 + 2.801 16 22. Hernandez Durango 1:23.418 + 2.988 18 23. Negrao Piquet Sports 1:23.569 + 3.139 18 24. Viso iSport International 1:24.130 + 3.700 10 25. Yoshimoto BCN Competicion 1:24.335 + 3.905 8 26. Tahinci FMS International 1:25.997 + 5.567 5
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