Home Formula 2 Palmer beats Vandoorne to claim pole for GP2 opener in Bahrain

Palmer beats Vandoorne to claim pole for GP2 opener in Bahrain

by Peter Allen
Jolyon Palmer

Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Media Service

Jolyon Palmer has claimed pole position for the first round of the 2014 GP2 season in Bahrain, beating rookie Stoffel Vandoorne to top spot by just three hundredths of a second.

Daniel Abt took top spot ten minutes into session and held it until slipping to third in a late shootout following a read flag. The stoppage was triggered when debutant Artem Markelov spun and stalled at turn one after leaving the pits.

Palmer managed a time of 1m38.865s after the restart which would go unbeaten. Vandoorne had held second behind Abt during the break and managed to better his previous time (which had been in doubt due to a track limits investigation) to reclaim a spot on the front row for his first GP2 race.

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Palmer’s DAMS team-mate Stephane Richelmi took fourth behind Abt after also improving towards the end. Rio Haryanto delivered on promising off-season pace to claim fifth for Caterham ahead of Stefano Coletti, while practice pace-setter Mitch Evans slipped to seventh late on.

Felipe Nasr finished up eighth – showing his frustration to a crawling Johnny Cecotto in the closing stages – with Ferrari protege Raffaele Marciello ninth and Arthur Pic tenth on Campos Racing’s return.

2014 GP2 Series driver-by-driver season preview

Update: Nasr has been handed a three-place grid penalty after he was found to have made “an abnormal change of direction” while passing Cecotto at turn four. That will drop him to P11, promoting Marciello, Pic and Jon Lancaster.

Qualifying session results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Jolyon Palmer DAMS 1:38.865 10
2 Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:38.895 0.030 10
3 Daniel Abt Hilmer Motorsport 1:39.073 0.208 10
4 Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1:39.081 0.216 10
5 Rio Haryanto EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:39.228 0.363 11
6 Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering 1:39.271 0.406 11
7 Mitch Evans Russian Time 1:39.274 0.409 9
8* Felipe Nasr Carlin 1:39.301 0.436 10
9 Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering 1:39.449 0.584 10
10 Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:39.462 0.597 10
11 Jon Lancaster MP Motorsport 1:39.507 0.642 10
12 Julian Leal Carlin 1:39.588 0.723 12
13 Johnny Cecotto Trident 1:39.615 0.750 10
14 Andre Negrao Arden International 1:39.647 0.782 10
15 Alexander Rossi EQ8 Caterham Racing 1:39.651 0.786 10
16 Kimiya Sato Campos Racing 1:39.749 0.884 11
17 Rene Binder Arden International 1:39.788 0.923 9
18 Conor Daly Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:39.848 0.983 10
19 Facu Regalia Hilmer Motorsport 1:39.881 1.016 12
20 Nathanael Berthon Venezuela GP Lazarus 1:39.928 1.063 8
21 Simon Trummer Rapax 1:40.059 1.194 11
22 Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:40.060 1.195 10
23 Takuya Izawa ART Grand Prix 1:40.401 1.536 11
24 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 1:40.408 1.543 10
25 Axcil Jefferies Trident 1:40.619 1.754 11
26 Artem Markelov Russian Time 1:41.172 2.307 5

*Handed a three-place grid penalty, will start 11th