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Kovalainen Takes Monza Pole

Heikki Kovalainen has taken pole for tomorrow's race one at Monza, beating championship rival Nico Rosberg to the top spot by just two tenths of a second

No other driver was within a second of the pole time of 1:33.725 - the closest driver was Scott Speed, who was 1.1 seconds behind and will share the second row with Rosberg's teammate Alex Premat.

The qualifying session was held under blue skies and with temperatures soaring. Kovalainen took the fastest first sector on his first lap out of the pits, but Rosberg struck back in the second and third sectors to take provisional pole.

It would only last for one lap - next time by the pits, Kovalainen reclaimed the top spot from this morning with a lap of 1:33.739, which he bettered slightly at the midway mark of the session for pole on his second set of tyres.

No one else had a reply, although not for want of trying. Jose Maria Lopez looked impressive throughout, and will start tomorrow's race on the third row, with a surprisingly quick Ferdinando Monfardini, initially fifth fastest, lining up behind him in seventh place, separated by Nelson Piquet Jr.

The session was remarkably free of incident, with a few drivers running straight through the first chicane but no one finding the barriers.

New driver Toni Vilander made up for his lack of laps in free practice by claiming 16th position just as the session ended, an impressive lap considering his lack of time in the car.

With the first fourteen drivers separated by just two seconds there are bound to be fireworks as the pack finds their way to the first corner at the start of tomorrow afternoon's race.

Pos  Driver      Team                      Time              Laps
 1.  Kovalainen  Arden International       1:33.739           10
 2.  Rosberg     ART Grand Prix            1:33.930 + 0.191    8
 3.  Speed       iSport International      1:34.851 + 1.112   13
 4.  Premat      ART Grand Prix            1:35.137 + 1.398   13
 5.  Lopez       DAMS                      1:35.160 + 1.421   13
 6.  Piquet      Hitech Piquet Sports      1:35.224 + 1.566   11
 7.  Lapierre    Arden International       1:35.232 + 1.498   10
 8.  Monfardini  Durango                   1:35.258 + 1.698    9
 9.  Jani        Racing Engineering        1:35.410 + 1.671   11
10.  Pantano     Super Nova International  1:35.463 + 1.808   12
11.  Garcia      Racing Engineering        1:35.593 + 1.854   11
12.  Viso        BCN Competicion           1:35.721 + 1.982   12
13.  Hernandez   Campos Racing             1:35.744 + 2.005   13
14.  Yoshimoto   BCN Competicion           1:35.821 + 2.082   11
15.  Mondini     DPR                       1:35.857 + 2.118   13
16.  Vilander    Coloni Motorsport         1:35.944 + 2.205   15
17.  Pla         DPR                       1:36.044 + 2.305   12
18.  Alvarez     Campos Racing             1:36.119 + 2.380    4
19.  Piccione    Durango                   1:36.365 + 2.626   13
20.  Artam       iSport International      1:36.427 + 2.405   13
21.  Negrao      Hitech Piquet Sports      1:36.551 + 2.812   12
22.  Lauda       Coloni Motorsport         1:36.897 + 3.158   13
23.  Fauzy       DAMS                      1:36.933 + 3.194   12
24.  Carroll     Super Nova International  1:37.396 + 3.651    3

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