Valsecchi beats Maldonado to pole
Davide Valsecchi denied Pastor Maldonado pole position for tomorrow's GP2 Series feature race at Istanbul with a superb lap in the final seconds of qualifying today
Maldonado had held the top spot for two thirds of the session, but Valsecchi's final lap of 1m34.860s was enough to dislodge the Rapax driver by just 0.015 seconds.
Moments before Valsecchi completed his pole lap, team-mate Oliver Turvey pulled a similar trick to launch himself from 10th to third, completing a good afternoon for the iSport team.
Current points leader Sergio Perez will start from fourth for Addax alongside ART's Sam Bird, with Perez's team-mate Giedo van der Garde and Dani Clos (Racing Engineering) just behind them.
Of the rest, Super Nova rookie Josef Kral had a decent shot at a top 10 start when he found himself alone on the track for three laps during the middle of the session, but the Czech overcooked it at Turn 8 and tank-slapped the tyre wall, bringing his day to an early end and consigning himself to starting 17th.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Davide Valsecchi iSport 1m34.860s 2. Pastor Maldonado Rapax 1m34.875s + 0.015s 3. Oliver Turvey iSport 1m35.135s + 0.275s 4. Sergio Perez Barwa Addax 1m35.194s + 0.334s 5. Sam Bird ART 1m35.267s + 0.407s 6. Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax 1m35.348s + 0.488s 7. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1m35.364s + 0.504s 8. Charles Pic Arden 1m35.411s + 0.551s 9. Alberto Valerio Coloni 1m35.491s + 0.631s 10. Luiz Razia Rapax 1m35.527s + 0.667s 11. Christian Vietoris Racing Engineering 1m35.664s + 0.804s 12. Jules Bianchi ART 1m35.676s + 0.816s 13. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1m35.750s + 0.890s 14. Michael Herck DPR 1m35.762s + 0.902s 15. Max Chilton Ocean 1m35.842s + 0.982s 16. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS 1m35.926s + 1.066s 17. Josef Kral Super Nova 1m35.955s + 1.095s 18. Adrian Zaugg Trident 1m35.957s + 1.097s 19. Marcus Ericsson Super Nova 1m35.973s + 1.113s 20. Johnny Cecotto Trident 1m36.047s + 1.187s 21. Fabio Leimer Ocean 1m36.167s + 1.307s 22. Vlado Arabadjiev Coloni 1m36.564s + 1.704s 23. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden 1m36.628s + 1.768s 24. Ho-Pin Tung DAMS 1m36.663s + 1.803s
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