Sunday, October 19, 2008

Rodriguez pips Kobayashi to pole

Rodriguez pips Kobayashi to pole

Roldan Rodriguez will start the first of this weekend's GP2 Asia races at Shanghai from pole position after snatching the top spot in the final seconds of qualifying.

The Piquet Sports driver waited until his final lap to set a time of 1:45.233, which nudged Kamui Kobayashi out of P1 by just under two tenths of a second.

Up to that point, Kobayashi had looked secure on top of the timesheet, having been quickest right through practice and qualifying until Rodriguez's last-gasp effort.

Giedo van der Garde continued his good form from testing last week to finish third quickest, and will be joined on the second row by Vitaly Petrov.

Proceedings were interrupted twice by red flags, the first of which was triggered when Super Nova's James Jakes crashed heavily at the final corner. He ran wide over the kerbs, flicking his car across the track and into a tank-slapper against the concrete barrier.

Hamad Al Fardan was responsible for the other red after spinning his iSport car on the exit of Turn 4 and stalling in the middle of the track.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet 1:45.233 13 2. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:45.418 10 3. Javier Villa Super Nova 1:45.643 14 4. Sakon Yamamoto ART 1:45.643 10 5. Giedo van der Garde iSport 1:45.800 13 6. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:45.843 14 7. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:45.885 11 8. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:46.009 7 9. Earl Bamber Meritus 1:46.060 11 10. Luca Filippi BCN 1:46.084 15 11. Luiz Razia Arden 1:46.130 13 12. Diego Nunes Piquet 1:46.169 12 13. Nelson Philippe ART 1:46.171 15 14. Hamad Al Fardan iSport 1:46.305 8 15. Mika Maki Arden 1:46.504 12 16. Chris van der Drift Trident 1:46.595 13 17. Yuki Sekiguchi DPR 1:46.733 13 18. Sergio Perez Campos 1:46.809 13 19. Michael Herck DPR 1:46.843 15 20 Giacomo Ricci Trident 1:47.010 13 21. Hiroki Yoshimoto BCN 1:47.231 12 22. Carlos Iaconelli Durango 1:47.355 16 23. Alex Yoong Meritus 1:47.652 12 24. James Jakes Super Nova 1:49.026 3 25 Kevin Nai Chia Chen FMS 1:49.413 15 26 Andi Zuber FMS no time

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