Pierre Gasly has truly taken a significant step forward in his first GP2 series season. The Qualifying session was brilliant for the young Frenchman, particularly at the very end of the session: he put in a strong effort 5 minutes before the end to lead the pack. With a lap time of 1:31:272, he is two-tenths ahead of Mitch Evans (Russian Time) in the standings, who will start from the back of the grid due to a penalty. Considering the tumultuous weekend at Spa, where the Red Bull junior driver was involved in a high-speed collision at Blanchimont with Daniel De Jong, this result is a great relief!<\/p>\n
Interviewed after the session, Pierre Gasly emphasized the good behavior of his car: \u00ab The team did a very good job with the car, I felt very comfortable right from the Free Practice session this morning; I thus had this confidence, which I didn’t necessarily have in other races, to go for a result. \u00bb<\/p>\n
In any case, our young tricolor prospect was focused on the Race since yesterday afternoon and the outcome of the Qualifications:<\/p>\n
\u00ab We need to have a good race! I really want this first win of the season because we need a very good result. The confidence is with us anyway: I am now very focused on the race! \u00bb<\/p>\n
However, he will need to be wary of the insatiable Stoffel Vandoorne, already a five-time winner this season and on his way to the title. Speaking of title contenders, let’s note that Alexander Rossi will start in 8th position.<\/p>\n
The race promises to be very uncertain: 16 drivers were within a second of Pierre Gasly’s pole position time yesterday.<\/p>\n
Here is the Top 10 of the Starting Grid:<\/b><\/p>\n
1. P. GASLY (DAMS)<\/p>\n
2. S. Vandoorne (ART Grand Prix)<\/p>\n
3. A. Lynn (DAMS)<\/p>\n
4. S. Sirotkin (Rapax)<\/p>\n
5. R. Haryanto (Campos Racing)<\/p>\n
6. A. Pic (Campos Racing)<\/p>\n
7. R. Stanaway (Status Grand Prix)<\/p>\n
8. A. Rossi (Racing Engineering)<\/p>\n
9. R. Marciello (Trident)<\/p>\n
10. N. Matshushita (ART Grand Prix)<\/p>\n
Further on, we find the last Frenchman in the running, Norman Nato (13th, Arden International). Mitch Evans, penalized as mentioned in this article, will therefore start from 23rd place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The GP2 Series Qualifying Session took place yesterday afternoon in Monza following the Formula 1 Free Practice. And it was a Frenchman who came out on top: Pierre Gasly, DAMS driver. He will start for the first time in his career at the front of Race 1 this afternoon, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne (ART Grand Prix), the current leader of the World Drivers’ Championship, and his DAMS teammate, the British driver Alex Lynn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":39279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1750],"tags":[1011,1229],"class_list":["post-12963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f2","category-news-f2","tag-monza","tag-gasly"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n