Johnny Cecotto has claimed an exciting pole position at the Red Bull Ring, just narrowly edging out Jolyon Palmer and Felipe Nasr by under 0.05 seconds.
A super competitive qualifying session saw provisional pole change hands between at least six drivers and the top 10 covered by 0.35 seconds.
The gap between pole position and 26th was just 1.3 seconds, proving just how tense the 30 minutes was.
The entire field bar the Russian Time drivers went out almost immediately to find track position, all aiming to set their lap times quick in case the rain that had been threatening the circuit the past couple of hours decided to drop.
Right at the end of the teams’ first run Felipe Nasr was on track to take provisional pole away from Cecotto when he got it wrong and ran wide on the final corner.
It seemed that in the final stages any driver could have taken pole position, as every lap someone was posting a purple sector.
Although no one was able to put the perfect lap together, Raffaele Marciello came closest after the chequered flag had fallen.
He was on target to beat Cecotto’s time when on the penultimate corner he ran slightly wide and compromised his lap. Whether he made a mistake or the traffic of a close by Caterham was the cause is currently unknown, however it cost him and he will now start fifth on the grid.
Stoffel Vandoorne looks set to end ART’s drought of points providing he stays out of trouble, he qualified in sixth position ahead of Arthur Pic, Mitch Evans and Alexander Rossi.
2014 GP2 Series Race of Austria – Qualifying Results:
Driver | Team / Entry | Time | Gap | Laps | ||
1. | Johnny Cecotto Jr | ![]() |
Trident Racing | 1:15.312 | 17 | |
2. | Jolyon Palmer | ![]() |
DAMS | 1:15.352 | + 0.040 | 15 |
3. | Felipe Nasr | ![]() |
Carlin Motorsport | 1:15.358 | + 0.046 | 18 |
4. | Stefano Coletti | ![]() |
Racing Engineering | 1:15.443 | + 0.131 | 17 |
5. | Raffaele Marciello | ![]() |
Racing Engineering | 1:15.449 | + 0.137 | 18 |
6. | Stoffel Vandoorne | ![]() |
ART Grand Prix | 1:15.481 | + 0.169 | 17 |
7. | Arthur Pic | ![]() |
Campos Racing | 1:15.608 | + 0.296 | 17 |
8. | Mitch Evans | ![]() |
RT Russian Time | 1:15.614 | + 0.302 | 17 |
9. | Alexander Rossi | ![]() |
EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:15.644 | + 0.332 | 17 |
10. | Stéphane Richelmi | ![]() |
DAMS | 1:15.664 | + 0.352 | 16 |
11. | Andre Negrao | ![]() |
Arden International | 1:15.773 | + 0.461 | 16 |
12. | Julián Leal | ![]() |
Carlin Motorsport | 1:15.784 | + 0.472 | 16 |
13. | Rio Haryanto | ![]() |
EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:15.811 | + 0.499 | 16 |
14. | Andrew Quaife-Hobbs | ![]() |
Rapax Team | 1:15.927 | + 0.615 | 16 |
15. | Tio Ellinas | ![]() |
MP Motorsport | 1:15.964 | + 0.652 | 15 |
16. | Sergio Canamasas | ![]() |
Trident Racing | 1:16.034 | + 0.722 | 16 |
17. | Takuya Izawa | ![]() |
ART Grand Prix | 1:16.092 | + 0.780 | 17 |
18. | Artem Markelov | ![]() |
RT Russian Time | 1:16.136 | + 0.824 | 17 |
19. | Daniel Abt | ![]() |
Hilmer Motorsport | 1:16.246 | + 0.934 | 19 |
20. | Kimiya Sato | ![]() |
Campos Racing | 1:16.271 | + 0.962 | 17 |
21. | René Binder | ![]() |
Arden International | 1:16.331 | + 1.019 | 17 |
22. | Daniël de Jong | ![]() |
MP Motorsport | 1:16.334 | + 1.022 | 14 |
23. | Facu Regalia | ![]() |
Hilmer Motorsport | 1:16.497 | + 1.185 | 18 |
24. | Simon Trummer | ![]() |
Rapax Team | 1:16.531 | + 1.219 | 17 |
25. | Conor Daly | ![]() |
Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:16.539 | + 1.227 | 14 |
26. | Nathanaël Berthon | ![]() |
Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:16.654 | + 1.342 | 16 |
Images via GP2 Media
Josh Kruse
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