Caterham‘s Alexander Rossi took the final GP2 pole of the season in an Abu Dhabi session which was interrupted by a red flag for a renegade wheel.
As the session started it was the two Rapax drivers of Stefano Coletti and Simon Trummer that had set the early pace but they couldn’t step the pace up as the remaining 23 cars hit the track for the 30 minute session.
It was Jolyon Palmer and Rossi who led the charge up the grid with Palmer being the first to cross the 1:50 mark on his way to a 1:49.376, four tenths slower than the American Rossi who claimed a 1:48.931.
A main contender in the championship fight, Russian Time‘s Sam Bird, has put himself into prime position going into tomorrow’s feature race having spilt Rossi and Palmer to claim second place with a time of 1:49.241. Main rival Fabio Leimer could only score a time good enough for fourth place.
The above mentioned red flag was caused with only six minutes to go following Daniel Abt‘s ART machine deciding it felt happier with one less wheel going into turn 13 which rolled off into the run off of turn 14 whilst Abt had to pull off before turn 15.
The red flag was especially annoying for Rossi who was just about to start a quick lap before the session was stopped.
Marcus Ericsson was first to set a lap after the restart and looked to have set a strong time but would eventually finish in 12th place.
The GP2 feature race is at 08:10, in the UK and is completely live on Sky Sports F1HD.