Red Bull Ring GP2: Johnny Cecotto Jr grabs pole in tight session
Johnny Cecotto Jr will start round seven of the GP2 Series from pole position after setting the fastest time in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring on Friday
As the threatening rain stayed away throughout the session, Trident's Cecotto set his pole time on his first run, although a later effort on his second set of tyres would have been good enough for pole too.
Points leader Jolyon Palmer will start second for DAMS, getting to within 0.04s of Cecotto before spinning at Turn 8 on his second run.
Carlin's Felipe Nasr qualified third, getting to within 0.006s of Palmer's time. The Williams F1 reserve will look back on a last corner moment on his first run that might have cost him a place or two.
Stefano Coletti jumped up to fourth with his final lap, but his Racing Engineering team-mate Raffaele Marciello had the best 'what if?' story, as he was up on Cecotto's pole time at sector two, only to find a Caterham cruising into the pits on the apex of Turn 8, which ruined his line and cost him his pole shot.
The Ferrari protege will start fifth.
McLaren junior Stoffel Vandoorne, who had swapped second with Palmer after the first runs, slipped down the order to sixth as the session wore on.
Arthur Pic, Mitch Evans, Alexander Rossi and Stephane Richelmi round out the top 10.
Practice pacesetter Julian Leal was only 12th fastest.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Johnny Cecotto Jr Trident 1m15.312s 2. Jolyon Palmer DAMS 1m15.352s +0.040s 3. Felipe Nasr Carlin 1m15.358s +0.046s 4. Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering 1m15.443s +0.131s 5. Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering 1m15.449s +0.137s 6. Stoffel Vandoorne ART 1m15.481s +0.169s 7. Arthur Pic Campos 1m15.608s +0.296s 8. Mitch Evans Russian Time 1m15.614s +0.302s 9. Alexander Rossi Caterham 1m15.644s +0.332s 10. Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1m15.664s +0.352s 11. Andre Negrao Arden 1m15.773s +0.461s 12. Julian Leal Carlin 1m15.784s +0.472s 13. Rio Haryanto Caterham 1m15.811s +0.499s 14. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 1m15.927s +0.615s 15. Tio Ellinas MP 1m15.964s +0.652s 16. Sergio Canamasas Trident 1m16.034s +0.722s 17. Takuya Izawa ART 1m16.092s +0.780s 18. Artem Markelov Russian Time 1m16.136s +0.824s 19. Daniel Abt Hilmer 1m16.246s +0.934s 20. Kimiya Sato Campos 1m16.274s +0.962s 21. Rene Binder Arden 1m16.331s +1.019s 22. Daniel de Jong MP 1m16.334s +1.022s 23. Facu Regalia Hilmer 1m16.497s +1.185s 24. Simon Trummer Rapax 1m16.531s +1.219s 25. Conor Daly Lazarus 1m16.539s +1.227s 26. Nathanael Berthon Lazarus 1m16.654s +1.342s
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