Campana grabs maiden Auto GP pole

Former Italian Formula 3 champion Sergio Campana recorded his maiden Auto GP pole position at Marrakech on Saturday afternoon.

The half-hour session was stopped twice, but Campana and former HRT Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan appeared unfazed by the red flags to stage a close fight for pole position throughout.

Campana knocked his high-profile competitor off top spot just thirty seconds before the chequered flag, edging out the Indian by 0.067s thanks to a lap of 1m29.127s.

Both men continued to push on the final lap, lowering their times but without change to the order. Campana ended qualifying with an advantage of just 0.041s over Karthikeyan, after posting a pole-winning effort of 1m29.104s.

Monza pole-sitter Riccardo Agostini will head Manor MP Motorsport team-mate Daniel de Jong on the second row of this afternoon’s race.

Romanian Robert Visoiu starts fifth, while championship leader Kimiya Sato experienced a drama-filled day, recovering from exhaust problems in this morning’s free practice session, to secure sixth.

Super Nova’s Italian pairing of Vittorio Ghirelli and Antonio Spavone occupied seventh and eighth spots following eventful sessions.

Spavone caused the second red flag period, with just over six minutes left on the clocks, when he suffered a spin at Turn 2, while Ghirelli later survived a quick pirouette at Turn 13.

The first unscheduled break in qualifying was caused by a suspected glitch in the timing system, shortly after the midway mark.

The delay was a reprieve for Euronova Racing’s Sato, who had completed just three troubled laps and languished in last position at the time of the stoppage.

On the restart, Sato’s machine appeared back in full health and the ATS Formel 3 graduate swiftly established himself in the top-six.

 Pos Driver                Team           Time      Gap      Laps  1. Sergio Campana        Ibiza          1m29.104s           13  2. Narain Karthikeyan    Zele           1m29.145s + 0.041s  14  3. Riccardo Agostini     Manor MP       1m29.276s + 0.172s  11  4. Daniel de Jong        Manor MP       1m29.342s + 0.238s  14  5. Robert Visoiu         Ghinzani       1m29.477s + 0.373s  15  6. Kimiya Sato           Euronova       1m29.552s + 0.448s  11  7. Vittorio Ghirelli     Super Nova     1m29.711s + 0.607s  14  8. Antonio Spavone       Super Nova     1m30.048s + 0.944s  18  9. Luciano Bacheta       Zele           1m30.146s + 1.042s  13 10. Andrea Roda           Virtuosi UK    1m30.274s + 1.170s  15 11. Meindert van Buuren   Manor MP       1m30.379s + 1.275s  14 12. Max Snegirev          Virtuosi UK    1m30.731s + 1.627s  14 13. Yoshitaka Kuroda      Euronova       1m31.086s + 1.982s  17 14. Giuseppe Cipriani     Ibiza          1m31.246s + 2.142s  10 15. Michele la Rosa       MLR 71         1m32.164s + 3.060s  16  

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/campana-grabs-maiden-auto-gp-pole

Duncan Hamilton Lewis Hamilton David Hampshire Sam Hanks Walt Hansgen