Hungaroring, Qual.: Lynn flies to maiden GP2 pole

DAMS ace denies Vandoorne at the Hungaroring

By Franck Drui

24 July 2015 - 17:23
Hungaroring, Qual.: Lynn flies to (...)

Reigning GP3 Series Champion Alex Lynn took his first GP2 pole position in today’s qualifying session at Budapest. The Briton set the fastest laptime of the day in a 1:28.022 pipping Series leader Stoffel Vandoorne from the top spot by 0.019s. Arthur Pic completed the top three.

The pitlane opened once again in scorching temperatures. The drivers fed onto the track eager to put their Soft Pirelli tyres to good use. Raffaele Marciello seemed on a mission as he was the first man to dip under 1m29s on his first push lap, but Vandoorne went quicker and moved up to P1. Behind the battling pair, Pic was also working hard to be featured at the top of the standings. As most drivers returned to the pits for fresh rubber, the Frenchman was able to find a clear lap to improve on his laptime, but it was still not enough and he remained P3 as he too returned to the pits.

The DAMS duo were the first ones to re-join the track and Lynn took full advantage of this strategy: on a traffic-free circuit, he found some extra pace to clock in a laptime a hairsbreadth better than Vandoorne. With nine minutes left on the clock, the rest of the pack returned to the track and despite his best efforts, the Belgian driver was unable to improve as Lynn watched Vandoorne’s failed attempts from the DAMS’ pitwall. Another threat came from Marciello as the Italian went green in sector 1 and then purple in sector 2, but lost precious time in the final sector. At the chequered flag, Pic put his head down on his last try and was able to better Marciello’s time to take P3.

But no one smiled wider than Lynn who celebrated his maiden pole with his team. Behind the top three, Marciello, Pierre Gasly, Jordan King, Rio Haryanto, Mitch Evans, Sergey Sirotkin and Nick Yelloly rounded up the top ten whilst title contender Alexander Rossi had to settle for eleventh and will have to fight hard to close the distance with his rivals.

PosDriverTeamTimeLaps
1. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:28.022 11
2. Stoffel Vandoorne ART Grand Prix 1:28.041 12
3. Arthur Pic Campos Racing 1:28.154 13
4. Raffaele Marciello Trident 1:28.272 13
5. Pierre Gasly DAMS 1:28.361 12
6. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:28.471 12
7. Rio Haryanto Campos Racing 1:28.538 11
8. Mitch Evans RUSSIAN TIME 1:28.608 11
9. Sergey Sirotkin Rapax 1:28.685 11
10. Nick Yelloly Hilmer Motorsport 1:28.782 11
11. Alexander Rossi Racing Engineering 1:28.807 11
12. Nicholas Latifi MP Motorsport 1:28.940 13
13. André Negrao Arden International 1:28.957 11
14. Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:29.038 11
15. Robert Visoiu Rapax 1:29.079 11
16. Daniel De Jong MP Motorsport 1:29.128 10
17. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:29.198 11
18. Nathanaël Berthon Daiko Team Lazarus 1:29.234 12
19. Sergio Canamasas Hilmer Motorsport 1:29.315 11
20. Julian Leal Carlin 1:29.351 11
21. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:29.635 12
22. Norman Nato Arden International 1:29.641 11
23. Marlon Stockinger Status Grand Prix 1:29.665 11
24. Sean Gelael Carlin 1:29.803 13
25. Rene Binder Trident 1:29.811 13

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