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Qualifying report

Silverstone GP2: Sirotkin denies Vandoorne to claim maiden pole

Sergey Sirotkin delivered Rapax's first GP2 pole since the 2013 opener by beating runaway championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne in a head-to-head battle.

Sergey Sirotkin, Rapax

Sergey Sirotkin, Rapax

GP2 Series Media Service

Sergey Sirotkin, Rapax
Sergey Sirotkin, Rapax
Rio Haryanto, Campos Racing
Stoffel Vandoorne, ART Grand Prix
Rene Binder, Trident
Arthur Pic, Campos Racing

Vandoorne, who had arrived at Silverstone with seven poles from the last eight GP2 qualifying sessions, led the order after the first set of flyers, with Sirotkin a tenth off.

The Belgian improved with his second effort, taking the benchmark to 1m40.134s, albeit Sirotkin bettered his own time as well and remained close behind.

The rest of the field were at least four tenths down at the half-session point, headed by star newcomer Oliver Rowland as several of the usual frontrunners had their best laps scuppered by yellow flags for MP's Daniel de Jong.

The battle between Vandoorne and Sirotkin continued as the flying laps resumed late in the session and, when the McLaren junior ruined an effort with an off in sector three, the Russian took to the top by a tenth and a half.

With none of the other contenders in with a hope of challenging the duo, both Vandoorne and Sirotkin got one more chance as the chequered flag flew – but while the Belgian couldn't improve, Sirotkin took another couple hundredths off to cement his career-first GP2 pole.

A last-second improvement saw Richie Stanaway shuffle Alexander Rossi down to fourth place, ahead of an all-French row three of Arthur Pic and Pierre Gasly.

Vandoorne's ART teammate Nobuharu Matsushita moved up the order in the final minutes to take seventh, ahead of last year's poleman Raffaele Marciello, Rowland and Julian Leal.

Practice pacesetter Rio Haryanto was out of sequence due to missing the early runs with a seeming mechanical issue and could only manage 15th.

Hilmer's GP2 returnee Jon Lancaster, who claimed a win for the German team at Silverstone in 2013, had to sit out the session as a necessary engine change could not be completed in time.

Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. S. Sirotkin Rapax 1:39.949   11
2. S. Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:40.134 0.185 11
3. R. Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:40.378 0.429 11
4. A. Rossi Racing Engineering 1:40.419 0.470 11
5. A. Pic Campos Racing 1:40.434 0.485 10
6. P. Gasly DAMS 1:40.498 0.549 11
7. N. Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:40.520 0.571 11
8. R. Marciello Trident 1:40.533 0.584 11
9. O. Rowland MP Motorsport 1:40.537 0.588 11
10. J. Leal Carlin 1:40.547 0.598 11
11. N. Yelloly Hilmer Motorsport 1:40.697 0.748 12
12. A. Lynn DAMS 1:40.708 0.759 11
13. J. King Racing Engineering 1:40.765 0.816 11
14. S. Canamasas Daiko Team Lazarus 1:40.789 0.840 10
15. R. Haryanto Campos Racing 1:40.793 0.844 10
16. A. Negrao Arden International 1:41.039 1.090 13
17. N. Berthon Daiko Team Lazarus 1:41.046 1.097 12
18. J. Cecotto Carlin 1:41.064 1.115 11
19. R. Visoiu Rapax 1:41.118 1.169 11
20. N. Nato Arden International 1:41.252 1.303 11
21. M. Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1:41.275 1.326 11
22. D. De Jong MP Motorsport 1:41.542 1.593 10
23. R. Binder Trident 1:41.762 1.813 11
24. M. Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1:41.802 1.853 12
25. A. Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:41.805 1.856 12

 

 

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