Vietoris Claims Emphatic Pole In Wet Qualifying At Spa

Christian Vietoris has taken pole position at Spa-Francorchamps after setting the quickest laptime of a wet GP2 qualifying session, though he could yet lose it after recording the time during yellow flags at the end of the session.

The German Racing Engineering driver was amongst the pacesetters throughout the session, taking top spot early on. Championship leader Romain Grosjean soon edged him out, before Luca Filippi took second place.

Marcus Ericsson bettered Grosjean's effort by 0.07 seconds at the midway point, before Filippi went quickest. Vietoris then returned to top spot, going eight tenths quicker than Filippi.

Sam Bird brought an early end to his session after losing control at Les Combes and ending up in the barrier. The Briton ended up 22^nd at the checkered flag.

Into the final ten minutes, and on a drying track Adam Carroll moved up to second place. With five minutes remaining Charles Pic went six tenths clear of the rest of the field. Filippi took top spot back with two minutes remaining, shading Pic by 0.2s.

Pic then slowed to a halt exiting Blanchimont, bringing out the yellow flags as his car was recovered. Vietoris was already on a flying lap and went 1.434s quicker to take pole position.

Filippi remained in second, with Pic ending up third and Jules Bianchi climbing to fourth. Michael Herck was fifth ahead of Ericsson and Carroll. Grosjean ended up back in eighth, with Johnny Cecotto and Esteban Gutierrez completing the top ten.

Giedo van der Garde – Grosjean's nearest title rival – was only 11^th. Grosjean can win the title in the feature race if he extends his advantage at the head of the standings by three points. Series returnee Brendon Hartley will start alongside van der Garde in 12^th.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Christian Vietoris	Racing Engineering	2:18.345		10
2	Luca Filippi	Scuderia Coloni	2:19.779	1.434	11
3	Charles Pic	Barwa Addax Team	2:20.056	1.711	9
4	Jules Bianchi	Lotus ART	2:20.211	1.866	9
5	Michael Herck	Scuderia Coloni	2:20.748	2.403	11
6	Marcus Ericsson	iSport International	2:20.858	2.513	11
7	Adam Carroll	Super Nova Racing	2:21.491	3.146	10
8	Romain Grosjean	DAMS	2:21.715	3.370	11
9	Johnny Cecotto	Ocean Racing Technology	2:21.753	3.408	11
10	Esteban Gutierrez	Lotus ART	2:21.877	3.532	10
11	Giedo van der Garde	Barwa Addax Team	2:21.956	3.611	11
12	Brendon Hartley	Ocean Racing Technology	2:22.145	3.800	12
13	Dani Clos	Racing Engineering	2:22.254	3.909	10
14	Fairuz Fauzy	Super Nova Racing	2:22.299	3.954	12
15	Mikhail Aleshin	Carlin	2:22.326	3.981	9
16	Josef Kral	Arden International	2:22.346	4.001	11
17	Max Chilton	Carlin	2:22.573	4.228	11
18	Fabio Leimer	Rapax	2:22.623	4.278	12
19	Rodolfo Gonzalez	Trident Racing	2:22.655	4.310	12
20	Luiz Razia	Caterham Team AirAsia	2:22.895	4.550	12
21	Davide Valsecchi	Caterham Team AirAsia	2:23.364	5.019	12
22	Sam Bird	iSport International	2:23.365	5.020	5
23	Jolyon Palmer	Arden International	2:23.495	5.150	11
24	Pal Varhaug	DAMS	2:23.830	5.485	12
25	Stefano Coletti	Trident Racing	2:24.272	5.927	9
26	Julian Leal	Rapax	2:24.832	6.487	11