Navarra: Series qualifying report

Leal on pole after breath-taking qualifying

First Auto GP pole position for Julian Leal, at the end of a very exciting session in which a red flag, caused by Stefano Bizzarri ending in the gravel, did send the drivers back on track with just 3 minutes to improve on a track that was drying quickly after a light rain drizzle.

The Colombian driver made the most of a very good job by his team, Trident Racing: they were able to put him in front of the group at the restart, and thanks to this he was the only one, together with Giacomo Ricci, to end the first flying lap before the checkered flag, so earning another try that was vital with the track conditions improving so quickly.

Leal finished ahead of Piscopo, just one tenth adrift and very quick also in the first part of the session, before it was halted. The championship leader is also 6 places ahead of his main rival, Romain Grosjean. Third place and second row for Jonny Reid, that confirmed his good feeling with the car in qualifying conditions after the pole in Brno and Spa's P3.

The New Zealander managed to keep Duncan Tappy behind by just 0.04! Third row and good performance in his Auto GP debut for Giacomo Ricci, 5th in front of Jan Charouz and Fabio Onidi. Good performance also for Alexander Sims: the Charouz-Gravity Racing rookie occupied the top spots for the whole session, but in the last lap he did a mistake in the last sector while everybody improved, and that put him in P10.

Julian Leal: "I'm very happy, and not just for the pole position but also for how important starting in front can be here. I don't think that overtaking will be easy on this track, so starting from the front seems a big advantage. I did a great lap, and the team did a great job living me that extra try, they deserve a big thank you!".

Edoardo Piscopo: "I was in front for nearly the whole session so losing pole is a bit frustrating, but I'm anyway happy of 1st row, furthermore knowing that Leal had one Flying lap more than me. I'm way in front of Grosjean and this also sounds good looking to the rest of the weekend!".

Jonny Reid: "It was a very difficult session, when you know that you have just one lap you can only do your best: That's what I did, and it was fine. It reminded me a bit of A1GP, with that format having just one try was normal, and maybe that experience helped me a bit today".

-source: auto gp