After topping the free practice session today, Pierre Gasly was also fastest in the qualifying session this afternoon and claimed the pole position ahead of Mitch Evans and Stoffel Vandoorne.
Like in the free practice session, the Rapax car of Robert Visoiu was the first one out on track and, followed by teammate Sergey Sirotkin, led the GP2 field around the sunny race track in Monza. It was Sirotkin who set the first flying lap, and the Russian was also the pacesetter in the early stage of the session while the lap times dropped.
As the lap times began to settle down, it was Mitch Evans who stole the spotlight from Sirotkin: With a lap time of 1:31.414 the New Zealander went quickest, one-tenth of a second faster than Pierre Gasly. Stoffel Vandoorne also remained near the top and slotted into provisional third place ahead of Sirotkin when the first set of flying laps was finished.
Alexander Rossi remained anonymous during the first half of the session. Running on an alternative strategy, the American drove his flying laps while most other drivers were in the pits and had moved up to provisional eighth place by the time everyone returned to the track on fresh Pirelli rubber.
With five minutes left, it was Pierre Gasly’s name lit up in purple as the French rookie beat Evans’s time by one and a half tenths of a second. All last minute efforts failed, and as the checkered flag fell, it was the name of the DAMS driver that stood next to the number one.
Lining up alongside Gasly will be Mitch Evans. Championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne will start side by side with Gasly’s teammate Alex Lynn from the second row, ahead of Sergey Sirotkin, Rio Haryanto, Arthur Pic, Richie Stanaway, Sergio Canamasas, and Alexander Rossi.
