GP2: Rossi beats Marciello to Monaco pole

Alexander Rossi claimed Monaco GP2 pole with a commanding performance in wet conditions. Ferrari Formula 1 protege Raffaele Marciello will join the American on the front row, having outpaced championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne in the wetter Group A session to ensure an end to the Belgian's run of GP2 poles.

Vandoorne had topped every GP2 qualifying session since Spa last August, but he will line up fourth after ending the first session 0.767 seconds shy of Trident driver Marciello.

Marciello caught some flamboyant slides as he took charge of the session, and looked assured of pole even before yellows came out in the final minutes due to Daniel de Jong nosing into the Mirabeau barriers and Zoel Amberg wiping his right-rear wheel off on the exit of Tabac.

With the rain stopping and the sun beginning to emerge, the Group A times were never likely to hold up for pole, and Rossi's Group B benchmark for Racing Engineering was three seconds faster than Marciello's best. Rossi dominated his session, at times lapping 2-3 seconds faster than anyone else, before practice pacesetter Arthur Pic reduced the gap to 0.598s at the end.

Sergey Sirotkin and Julian Leal will share row three, with Nick Yelloly recovering from an early visit to the Mirabeau escape road to secure seventh on the grid.

Several drivers found themselves out of position in the challenging conditions. Barcelona sprint race winner Alex Lynn will start from 17th, 2014 Monaco Formula Renault 3.5 victor Norman Nato is set for 22nd on the grid, and Rio Haryanto - currently second to Vandoorne in the points - will be way back in 24th.

Richie Stanaway had looked like a front row threat early in Group A, before smashing his front wing on the Mirabeau armco. He rejoined with a fresh nose but will start only 14th.

STARTING GRID

(split qualifying - odd-numbered positions from Group B, evens from Group A)

Originally on Autosport.com