Kobayashi snatches pole in Dubai

Kamui Kobayashi snatched pole position in the GP2 Asia event in Dubai with a late run this afternoon.

Kobayashi, along with title rival Roldan Rodriguez, seemed content to let others set the pace for much of the session.

But the DAMS driver made his big push with just two minutes of the session left to take pole with a lap of 1:41.091.

"There was a lot of traffic, so it was difficult to get a time," said Kobayashi. "I think I was quite lucky."

Sakon Yamamoto (ART) made it an all-Japan front row with an even later effort, 0.184 seconds down.

Earlier in the session, Vitaly Petrov (Campos) fought Piquet GP's Diego Nunes for pole, but neither could quite raise their game enough when the Japanese challenge materialised.

Petrov ended up third, after a clash with a slower car on his final lap. Nunes was eighth.

Title leader Rodriguez held pole briefly, but was pushed down to fourth in the late scrum.

Yelmer Buurman maintained the good form of new squad Ocean Racing from practice, taking sixth behind Davide Valsecchi (Durango).

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:41.091 13 2. Sakon Yamamoto ART 1:41.275 +0.184 12 3. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:41.341 +0.250 14 4. Roldan Rodriguez Piquet 1:41.376 +0.285 15 5. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:41.472 +0.381 15 6. Yelmer Buurman Ocean 1:41.550 +0.459 14 7. Giedo van der Garde iSport 1:41.557 +0.466 15 8. Diego Nunes Piquet 1:41.593 +0.502 15 9. Sergio Perez Campos 1:41.768 +0.677 15 10. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:41.777 +0.686 14 11. Andi Zuber FMS 1:41.798 +0.707 14 12. Pastor Maldonado ART 1:41.838 +0.747 13 13. Renger van der Zande Arden 1:42.054 +0.963 15 14. Javier Villa Super Nova 1:42.062 +0.971 13 15. James Jakes Super Nova 1:42.066 +0.975 15 16. Earl Bamber Qi-Meritus 1:42.068 +0.977 15 17. Luiz Razia Arden 1:42.204 +1.113 14 18. Giacomo Ricci DPR 1:42.351 +1.260 14 19. Hamad Al-Fardan iSport 1:42.367 +1.276 15 20. Alberto Valerio Trident 1:42.541 +1.450 15 21. Alex Yoong Qi-Meritus 1:43.026 +1.935 14 22. Michael Herck DPR 1:43.102 +2.011 14 23. Fabrizio Crestani Ocean 1:43.316 +2.225 14 24. Chris van der Drift Trident 1:43.393 +2.302 15 25. Michael Dalle Stelle Durango 1:45.603 +4.512 15

Rodriguez wins as Kobayashi spins

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