Rosberg Takes Hockenheim Pole
Nico Rosberg has taken pole at his home race by half a second from Scott Speed for GP2's first race at Hockenheim
The German's teammate Alex Premat will line up behind him on tomorrow's grid.
The drivers went out to the track under a gloomy, cloud filled sky, but apart from a few drops, the rain stayed away throughout the session, allowing Rosberg to set a lap time of 1:24.691 on dry weather tyres.
With the clouds threatening to open at any time, every driver bar Gimmi Bruni was immediately on track, and the opening round went to Rosberg, who slotted in at the top of the sheets, just ahead of Premat and Speed.
The trio then spent the remainder of the session trying to outdo each other - Speed claimed first place at the halfway mark with a time of 1:25.195, but Rosberg came out a few minutes later and reclaimed the top spot and was not headed again.
Behind them, a number of drivers were caught out in the tricky conditions - Fairuz Fauzy spun into the last corner before driving back along the track to re-enter the pits, while Jose Maria Lopez and Olivier Pla also spun during the session.
Nelson Piquet came close to claiming the top spot - late in the session he set the fastest first sector overall and his quickest second sector, but was unable to close the deal in the final section. He will line up eighth on the grid tomorrow.
Behind the top three, Pla resumed his new found form by claiming fourth spot, ahead of an impressively quick Borja Garcia and Ernesto Viso. Championship contenders Adam Carroll and Heikki Kovalainen will line up seventh and ninth respectively on the grid for tomorrow's race.Pos Driver Team Time
1. Rosberg ART 1:24.691
2. Speed iSport 1:25.195 + 0.504
3. Premat ART 1:25.623 + 0.932
4. Pla DPR 1:25.832 + 1.141
5. Garcia Racing Engineering 1:25.845 + 1.154
6. Viso BCN Competicion 1:25.861 + 1.170
7. Carroll Super Nova 1:25.955 + 1.264
8. Piquet Hitech Piquet 1:26.006 + 1.315
9. Kovalainen Arden 1:26.041 + 1.350
10. Piccione Durango 1:26.126 + 1.435
11. Pantano Super Nova 1:26.249 + 1.558
12. Yoshimoto BCN Competicion 1:26.279 + 1.588
13. Bruni Coloni 1:26.325 + 1.634
14. Jani Racing Engineering 1:26.368 + 1.677
15. Lapierre Arden 1:26.403 + 1.712
16. Sharp DPR 1:26.561 + 1.870
17. Monfardini Durango 1:26.610 + 1.919
18. Negrao Hitech Piquet 1:26.627 + 1.936
19. Alvarez Campos Racing 1:26.680 + 1.989
20. Lopez DAMS 1:26.693 + 2.002
21. Fauzy DAMS 1:26.982 + 2.291
22. Lauda Coloni 1:27.157 + 2.466
23. Hernandez Campos Racing 1:27.245 + 2.554
24. Artam iSport 1:27.319 + 2.628
All Timing Unofficial
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