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Romain Grosjean on Pole Position
25/01/2008

The Frenchman took the pole position this morning in Dubai. Bruno Senna will start the first race in the front row.

The ART Grand Prix French driver was the quickest today in the qualifying session in a 1:21.760. Bruno Senna, Andy Soucek and Karun Chandhok complete the first two rows. After he crashed earlier today during the free practice, Luca Filippi still managed to qualify in 6th place. His team-mate, Hiroki Yoshimoto, made a mistake 10 minutes before the end of the session and damaged his car. He will start from 8th position.

The Spaniard Adrian Valles had always been quick during the four testing days. For the first race of the GP2 Asia Championship, he will place his FMS car on the 5th position of the grid, while Vitaly Petrov did only one out lap, but then had to go back to the pits because of a gearbox problem. However, he will take part of the race.

Race 1 will start at 3:30pm, local time.
Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix): 'Once again, the team did a fantastic job. I was going for pole and I am very happy that I could achieve it. For this afternoon race, I know that Senna is more experienced than I am and I'm also here to learn, but I have a real shot at winning and I won't miss the opportunity.'
Bruno Senna (iSport International): 'In my fastest lap, Fauzy unfortunately blocked me. Then, I had just one last lap to do the job. I am a little disappointed of course, but I will still start from the front row. The level of experience that I have compared to Grosjean may give me a little bit of an edge, but you never know what could happen in the first corner.'
Andy Soucek (DPR): 'This morning, we changed the set up and we improved a lot the performance of the car. In free practice, I was really quick and then I was expecting to fight for pole position. In the last 5 minutes of the session, I lost it to Senna and to Grosjean. Now, we have the pace and I usually make good starts. I will fight for the win.'
Dubai Qualifying:

DriverTeamTimeLaps

1.Romain GrosjeanART Grand Prix1:21.76017
2.Bruno SennaiSport International1:21.80916
3.Andy SoucekDPR1:21.85918
4.KarunChandhok iSport International1:21.96316
5.AdrianValles FMS International1:22.18017
6.Luca FilippiQi-Meritus Mahara1:22.18715
7.Marco BonanomiPiquet Sports1:22.37319
8.Hiroki YoshimotoQi-Meritus Mahara1:22.46912
9.Davide VCalsecchiDurango 1:22.48521
10.Sébastien BuemiTrust Team Arden1:22.52018
11.Kamui KobayashiDams1:22.55619
12.Ho-Pin TungTrident Racing1:22.59519
13.Fairuz FauzySuper Nova Racing1:22.87418
14.Alberto ValerioDurango 1:22.89121
15.Christian BakkerudSuper Nova Racing1:22.94719
16.Harald SchleghelmilchTrident Racing1:23.04816
17.Diego Nunes Barwa International Campos Team1:23.19018
18.MilosPlavlovic BCN Competicion1:23.24020
19.Stephen JelleyART Grand Prix1:23.63713
20Jérôme d’AmbrosioDams1:23.86718
21.Jason TahinciBCN Competicion1:23.94121
22.Michael HerckFMS International1:24.07817
23.Marcello PuglisiPiquet Sports1:24.37817
24.Armaan EbrahimDPR1:24.86415
25Vitaly PetrovBarwa International Campos Team

** Adam Khan: drop of five grid positions for Race 1 for undertaking under red flag

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