Giovinazzi leads Prema 1-2 in GP2 qualifying in Belgium
Italian Antonio Giovinazzi stole pole position for the GP2 feature race in Belgium in the final minute of the session from teammate Pierre Gasly.
Giovinazzi took his second pole position of the season with a lap time of 1m56.607s, 0.161s ahead of his French teammate.
The 22-year-old enjoyed a brief tow from Mitch Evans down to the Bus Stop Chicane while Gasly locked up heavily into Turn 13.
Gustav Malja qualified a career-best third, proving Rapax’s performance in Germany wasn’t a one off. His teammate Pic ended the session in sixth.
The Racing Engineering duo were fourth and fifth, with Norman Nato out-qualifying Jordan King for the eight successive race.
The ever-consistent Raffaele Marciello beat Alex Lynn to seventh. Matsushita showed promise early on but could only manage ninth ahead of rookie Kirchhofer.
Meanwhile, championship leader Sergey Sirotkin qualified a disastrous 13th ahead of Luca Ghiotto and Oliver Rowland who also had disappointing sessions.
Mitch Evans also had a session to forget as he slumped to 19th, two places behind his teammate Sean Gelael.
Series returnee Sergio Canamasas found himself 16th while Nabil Jeffri finished the session in 21st meaning his three-place grid drop will force him to start from the pitlane.
The four bonus points for pole position fire Giovinazzi into third in the Drivers’ Championship and a win tomorrow would guarantee second place in the standings.