Sergey Sirotkin secured his second pole position of the 2016 GP2 Series season as he outpaced the in-form Antonio Giovinazzi by just 0.006 seconds at the Red Bull Ring on Friday.
The Russian driver added the Austrian pole position to the one he earned around the streets of Monaco in May, and denied Giovinazzi his second consecutive pole position after the Italian had taken pole in Baku.
Pre-season championship favourite Sirotkin, fresh off his first two podium finishes of the season last time out in Baku, set a time of 1:13.663 for ART Grand Prix to finish ahead of the Prema Racing duo of Giovinazzi and Pierre Gasly, who will start the Feature race on Saturday from the third position on the grid.
The top three were all well clear of the rest of the field, with fourth place on the grid going to the Trident of Luca Ghiotto, who so far in 2016 has only scored two points for a ninth place in the Feature race in Baku. The Italian will be eager to change that this weekend, with the 2015 GP3 Series runner-up looking for his maiden GP2 podium finish.
Championship leader Artem Markelov will lead off an all Russian Team row three ahead of his Italian team-mate Raffaele Marciello, while Oliver Rowland will start seventh for MP Motorsport alongside Alex Lynn of DAMS, who will be looking to put the disappointment of his pointless weekend in Baku behind him this weekend in Austria.
Norman Nato will start ninth for Racing Engineering, while the top ten was completed by Campos Racing’s Mitch Evans, who finished just ahead of Arden International’s Nabil Jeffri and Carlin’s Marvin Kirchhöfer.
Red Bull Ring Qualifying Times
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