24/07/2009
NEWS STORY
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Lucas di Grassi has claimed his first pole position for tomorrow's race one at the Hungaroring with a mature drive in trying conditions at the technical circuit, qualifying ahead of Vitaly Petrov and Javier Villa.
The Brazilian held the top spot for most of the session, re-emerging after a red flag period to reclaim pole with a lap time of 1:27.867, taking back the position by less than a tenth from Petrov, whose period at the top of the timesheets lasted less than a minute.
With clear laps a rarity on the tight, twisty circuit di Grassi was immediately on the pace, although Petrov was looking to strike back when Barwa Addax teammate Romain Grosjean clipped his countryman Franck Perera's wheel, putting both men out on the spot and prompting a red flag
period just seven minutes into the session.
When the track was cleared the drivers were immediately back out and hunting down lap times: Villa claimed the fastest first sector, Petrov the fastest second sector (and, briefly, the best overall time) but di Grassi claimed the fastest time in the tricky third sector, settling him up for the best combined lap.
And it was enough: with the usual heavy traffic conditions throughout in the third sector of the circuit stopping any attacks the top three was set, just ahead of Davide Valsecchi, Nico Hulkenberg, Luca Filippi, Pastor Maldonado, Andreas Zuber, Davide Rigon and Roldan Rodriguez, all of whom were well within a second of pole and capable of more, setting the stage for a monumental battle both on track and off in tomorrow's race.