Stoffel Vandoorne took his second consecutive GP2 Series pole position by posting the fastest time in qualifying for the Italian Feature race at Monza, but championship leader Jolyon Palmer will start at the back after being excluded from the session.
The Belgian ART Grand Prix driver defeated practice pace setter Arthur Pic of Campos Racing by 0.219s in a session where the top twenty-two drivers were covered by less than a second.
Vandoorne got the timing of his second run spot on, and was able to watch calmly from the pit lane while his rivals tried and failed to beat his 1:31.707s time.
Pic’s second place on the grid was his best qualifying result of the season, and meant Mitch Evans of Russian Time and Palmer of DAMS had to settle for third and fourth respectively. However post-qualifying, it was found that Palmer’s car did not have the required one-litre of fuel, and the Briton was excluded from the times and will have to start at the back of the field.
Raffaele Marciello inherited fourth for Racing Engineering, just beating the Rapax of Simon Trummer, while Stephane Richelmi will start sixth in the second DAMS machine.
Championship contender Felipe Nasr will start seventh for Carlin, and led a train of thirteen cars covered by less than two tenths of a second; Adrian Quaife-Hobbs in nineteenth was only 0.176s slower than Nasr in seventh, which indicates the Saturday Feature race could be an entertaining affair.
Nasr’s Carlin team-mate Julian Leal will start eighth, ahead of the ever-improving Andre Negrao of Arden International in ninth; the Brazilian scored his first points of the season last time out at Spa-Francorchamps and will be looking for more this weekend in Italy.
Red Bull-backed Series debutant Pierre Gasly will start twenty-first for EQ8 Caterham Racing, 1.119s off pole position but only 0.465s behind his team-mate Rio Haryanto who will start tenth.
Monza Feature Race Qualifying Times
| POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Stoffel Vandoorne | BEL | ART Grand Prix | 1:31.707 |
| 2 | Arthur Pic | FRA | Campos Racing | 1:31.926 |
| 3 | Mitch Evans | NZL | RT Russian Time | 1:31.934 |
| 4 | Raffaele Marciello | ITA | Racing Engineering | 1:32.124 |
| 5 | Simon Trummer | SWI | Rapax | 1:32.137 |
| 6 | Stephane Richelmi | MON | DAMS | 1:32.150 |
| 7 | Felipe Nasr | BRZ | Carlin | 1:32.310 |
| 8 | Julian Leal | COL | Carlin | 1:32.343 |
| 9 | Andre Negrao | BRZ | Arden International | 1:32.354 |
| 10 | Rio Haryanto | INO | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:32.361 |
| 11 | Daniel Abt | GER | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:32.385 |
| 12 | Stefano Coletti | MON | Racing Engineering | 1:32.412 |
| 13 | Kimiya Sato | JAP | Campos Racing | 1:32.413 |
| 14 | Marco Sorensen | DEN | MP Motorsport | 1:32.419 |
| 15 | Jon Lancaster | GBR | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:32.422 |
| 16 | Takuya Izawa | JAP | ART Grand Prix | 1:32.435 |
| 17 | Daniel de Jong | NED | MP Motorsport | 1:32.473 |
| 18 | Rene Binder | AUT | Arden International | 1:32.483 |
| 19 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | GBR | Rapax | 1:32.486 |
| 20 | Sergio Canamasas | ESP | Trident Racing | 1:32.624 |
| 21 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:32.826 |
| 22 | Artem Markelov | RUS | RT Russian Time | 1:32.881 |
| 23* | Johnny Cecotto Jr | VEN | Trident Racing | 1:32.533 |
| 24 | Nathanael Berthon | FRA | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:32.912 |
| 25 | Sergio Campana | ITA | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:33.409 |
| 26** | Jolyon Palmer | GBR | DAMS | 1:32.010 |
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*Three Place Penalty for Impeding* |
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**Times Deleted for Failure to Have Enough Fuel in Car after Qualifying** |
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