GP2 news
Lapierre surprises with pole!
14 September 2007 / Results / PhotosNicolas Lapierre has set the cat among the pigeons by claiming pole position for tomorrow's race one at the fabled Spa Francorchamps circuit, setting the fastest lap with just a few minutes remaining in the session to hold on from Luca Filippi and Bruno Senna.
Lapierre's best lap of 1.56.885 was quick enough to claim the top spot, albeit by just a hundredth of second from the Italian, while Senna was two tenths off after spinning out of the session just ten minutes in.
The Brazilian contingent led the early running, with di Grassi just ahead of Senna as the drivers searched for the best way around the circuit after their practice session was cut short earlier today by red flags. Championship leader Timo Glock came straight back into the pits without setting a time as Adam Carroll, Filippi and Senna picked up the pace on track, with the German held there for ten minutes as his team swarmed over his car.
Senna's spin came at the newly profiled bus stop corner: he simply lost the back and spun over the kerbs into retirement, putting paid to a very promising session for the Brazilian after topping the times earlier in free practice.
With the temperatures dropping from earlier in the day, the drivers were taking 2 laps to get right up to speed: when Glock finally came out his first timed lap put him 19th, his second one pushed him up to 4th, and his next one was looking faster still until he came into the pits and was held for what seemed an age at the weighbridge as the rest of the field swarmed out on fresh rubber.
He was soon back out as well, although with the rest of the field up to speed he had to spend a lot of time looking in his mirrors. Filippi, who already had the top time, was slicing through traffic and Glock was caught out, running wide at turn 10 as he tried to get out of the way, slowing his own progress in the process.
With the end of the session in sight everyone was trying to gain an advantage: Mike Conway was trying to catch up to his teammate but was caught out in traffic at the new bus stop, ran over the kerb and broke his front wing, while the top 8 positions were changing every ten seconds or so as everyone tried to overtake the retired Senna.
But it was Lapierre who stunned the pitlane with his last lap: no one else was able to come to terms with him as Filippi had already come back to the pits assuming the job was done, and the Frenchman was soon back to celebrate his narrowest of victories.
Behind the top three on the grid tomorrow will be Lucas di Grassi, Andi Zuber, Timo Glock, Adam Carroll and Hiroki Nakajima, all of them within half a second of pole and hoping to make up for the missed pole with a victory in race one.
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