25/01/2008
NEWS STORY
ART Grand Prix driver, and Renault F1 test driver, Romain Grosjean (right) took pole position in Dubai this morning, ahead of iSport's Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok.
After he crashed earlier today during the free practice, Luca Filippi still managed to qualify in 6th place, while his teammate, Hiroki Yoshimoto, made a mistake 10 minutes before the end of the session and damaged his car. Consequently, he will start from 8th position.
Spaniard Adrian Valles, who had been quick during the four test days, will start from 5th in the Fisichella Motorsport car, while Vitaly Petrov who did only one out lap, but then had to go back to the pits because of a gearbox problem, will start from the back of the grid.
Romain Grosjean: "Once again, the team did a fantastic job. I was going for pole and I am very happy that I could achieve it. For this afternoon race, I know that Senna is more experienced than I am and I'm also here to learn, but I have a real shot at winning and I won't miss the opportunity."
Bruno Senna: "In my fastest lap, Fauzy unfortunately blocked me. Then, I had just one last lap to do the job. I am a little disappointed of course, but I will still start from the front row. The level of experience that I have compared to Grosjean may give me a little bit of an edge, but you never know what could happen in the first corner."
Andy Soucek: "This morning, we changed the set up and we improved a lot the performance of the car. In free practice, I was really quick and then I was expecting to fight for pole position. In the last 5 minutes of the session, I lost it to Senna and to Grosjean. Now, we have the pace and I usually make good starts. I will fight for the win."
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
| 1 | Grosjean | ART Grand Prix | 1:21.760 | 0.000 |
| 2 | Senna | iSport International | 1:21.809 | 0.049 |
| 3 | Soucek | DPR | 1:21.859 | 0.099 |
| 4 | Chandhok | iSport International | 1:21.963 | 0.203 |
| 5 | Valles | FMS International | 1:22.180 | 0.420 |
| 6 | Filippi | Qi-Meritus.Mahara | 1:22.187 | 0.427 |
| 7 | Bonanomi | Piquet Sports | 1:22.373 | 0.613 |
| 8 | Yoshimoto | Qi-Meritus.Mahara | 1:22.469 | 0.709 |
| 9 | Valsecchi | Durango | 1:22.485 | 0.725 |
| 10 | Buemi | Trust Team Arden | 1:22.520 | 0.760 |
| 11 | Kobayashi | DAMS | 1:22.556 | 0.796 |
| 12 | Tung | Trident Racing | 1:22.595 | 0.835 |
| 13 | Fauzy | Super Nova International | 1:22.874 | 1.114 |
| 14 | Valerio | Durango | 1:22.891 | 1.131 |
| 15 | Bakkerud | Super Nova International | 1:22.947 | 1.187 |
| 16 | Schlegelmilch | Trident Racing | 1:23.048 | 1.288 |
| 17 | Nunes | Barwa Int Campos Team | 1:23.190 | 1.430 |
| 18 | Pavlovic | BCN Competicion | 1:23.240 | 1.480 |
| 19 | Jelley | ART Grand Prix | 1:23.637 | 1.877 |
| 20 | Khan | Trust Team Arden | 1:23.859 | 2.099 |
| 21 | d'Ambrosio | DAMS | 1:23.867 | 2.107 |
| 22 | Tahinci | BCN Competicion | 1:23.941 | 2.181 |
| 23 | Herck | FMS International | 1:24.078 | 2.318 |
| 24 | Puglisi | Piquet Sports | 1:24.378 | 2.618 |
| 25 | Ebrahim | DPR | 1:24.864 | 3.104 |
| 26 | Petrov | Barwa Int Campos Team | No Time | - |