GP2: Gasly beats Vandoorne to Bahrain pole

Red Bull junior Pierre Gasly shaded McLaren Formula 1 reserve Stoffel Vandoorne to claim his second GP2 pole position in Bahrain.

2015 champion Vandoorne sat at the top of the times for the bulk of the 30-minute session, as the only man below the 1m40s barrier with his time of 1m39.957s. He improved with four minutes remaining to a 1m39.612s lap, only to be eclipsed by DAMS driver Gasly moments later.

With his 1m39.572s effort, Gasly secured pole from Vandoorne by just 0.040 seconds.

In the flurry of late times, Raffaele Marciello and Alex Lynn jumped up to third and fourth, 0.076s and 0.089s shy of pole, respectively.

Jordan King will line up fifth, while his Racing Engineering teammate Alexander Rossi will start ninth, six tenths off the pace.

Having led practice on Thursday morning, Rossi was only 16th after his first run, and improved to fifth on his second effort, but he was demoted in the final minutes.

Norman Nato will start sixth, having been Vandoorne's closest challenger for much of the session, ahead of Mitch Evans and Nobuharu Matsushita, while Arthur Pic completes the top 10 behind Rossi.

Formula Renault 3.5 champion Oliver Rowland was 18th fastest in his first qualifying session with Status Grand Prix, marginally behind teammate Marlon Stockinger.

On his return from injury, Daniel De Jong will start 21st.

RESULTS

Originally on Autosport.com