GP2: Sirotkin takes Monaco pole, trouble for Gasly

Sergey Sirotkin secured Monaco GP2 pole position with a blistering effort in the second group of the split session.

Norman Nato was quickest in Group 1 and joins Sirotkin on the front row, but there was more disappointment for championship leader Pierre Gasly, who will start from row eight at best.

Renault Formula 1 test driver Sirotkin put his ART Grand Prix car on provisional pole by 0.035 seconds over Racing Engineering's Jordan King early in group two.

That session was then halted for nearly 20 minutes after Artem Markelov misjudged his approach to Ste Devote, launched his car over the kerbs and flew nose-first into the barriers with sufficient force to derange the armco. The Russian was unhurt.

Just under four minutes remained when the cars were let back out of the pits, giving everyone a single flying lap, and Sirotkin put his to very good use as he improved by four tenths of a second to a commanding 1m19.186s benchmark.

King stayed second, which translates to third on the grid, with Oliver Rowland on the inside of row three and Antonio Giovinazzi making a late jump up to the fourth-row spot.

Group one had produced a much more competitive session, with provisional pole changing hands eight times. Gasly, Marvin Kirchhofer, Norman Nato, Mitch Evans, Raffaele Marciello, Alex Lynn and Nato were the main protagonists, constantly swapping positions until Nato finally edged out Evans by 0.068s to top the session with a 1m19.894s.

Lynn was third quickest so starts sixth, with Marciello and Luca Ghiotto completing the top five in the group.

Though Gasly had been the early pacesetter in the car Prema repaired following his heavy practice crash, he then reported a problem and pitted.

In the process he missed a call to the weighbridge, so while he is currently provisionally 16th on the grid it could get worse depending on the outcome of the stewards' investigation.

Originally on Autosport.com