After soaring to the top of the timing sheets in Free Practice on Friday morning, Pierre Gasly took his maiden pole position ahead of Mitch Evans and GP2 series leader Stoffel Vandoorne.
The DAMS driver was able to secure the top spot with a 1m31.272s, two tenths quicker than his rivals.
“It feels good, I have to say. The team did a good job, and already this morning in free practice the car felt good, and I felt confident in the car and could do what I wanted, so I had this confidence more than in the other races so I could deliver a good lap,” said the 21-year-old after the session.
“I did a little mistake on the first set, in the second sector, so I knew if I would do the same lap without this mistake I had a little room to improve. And I just managed to do a clean lap, which is important because the car was really strong, and it made the difference in the end.”
In an extremely close battle during the afternoon’s qualifying session, the Red Bull test driver set his fastest time in the closing stages around the historic Monza circuit. Evans, who had held provisional pole for the majority of the session, settled for second just ahead of Vandoorne; the Belgian 0.206s off the leader.
Gasly’s DAMS team-mate Alex Lynn ended up in fourth position in front of Rapax driver Sergey Sirotkin and Campos Racing’s Rio Haryanto.
In the second Campos car, Arthur Pic ended his afternoon in seventh behind his team-mate and ahead of Richie Stanaway.
Sergio Canamasas managed to squeeze into the top ten when he set the ninth fastest time, the Spaniard finding himself just ahead of Racing Engineering’s Alexander Rossi. The American appeared to have fallen off the pace he held in the morning but was able to sneak into the top ten, although he looked dejected as he exited the car at the end of the session.
Monza Qualifying Result
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