21/03/2008
NEWS STORY
ART Grand Prix driver Romain Grosjean (right) snatched his second pole of the season in Sepang today. iSport International's Karun Chandhok will start next to him tomorrow on the grid for Race 1.
The 2008 GP2 Asia Series leader is back on top form today: after he set the pace in this morning's Free Practice, the Renault RDD driver was once again quickest in qualifying with a 1:44.182. Tomorrow, he will fight for a third win.
Also back at the top is Karun Chandhok who posted the second fastest lap time of the day at the wheel of his iSport International car. As for Adrian Valles and his FMS International car, they were once again very competitive as they complete the Top 3.
Bruno Senna still has a very good chance to fight for the win as he will be starting from fourth place. Sebastien Buemi and Fairuz Fauzy will place their Trust Team Arden and Super Nova Racing cars on the 4th row in front of TDP Kamui Kobayashi, Davide Valsecchi, Yelmer Buurman and Christian Bakkerud.
"This is a fantastic result!" said Grosjean. "Pole position was one of my goals of the weekend. The second one is to win tomorrow on this beautiful track. I don't feel any extra pressure from racing in front of the Formula One paddock: I just keep focused on my objectives. This is still a learning period for me."
"I'm happy that I did my best lap in the very last minutes of the session," said Chandhok. "Of course, I was aiming at pole position, but I'm really happy with the car and the balance. Bruno Senna's time is also very good: we should be both really competitive tomorrow. As for the start of Race 1, I hope it will be better than the one in Dubai… After that, anything's possible: I will definitely fight for the win!"
Adrian Valles said: "It's a really nice track... This morning, I did a few laps and I had the opportunity to learn the track. I finished third that time too. In the qualifying session, I was struggling a bit because I had some problems with the gear box. I also had problems with the first set of tyres. However, I'm really happy with the balance of the car. We are quite strong here. I hope everything will go well tomorrow and I think we can be fighting for the win."