04.02.10 TURVEY ON FRONT ROW IN ABU DHABI Oliver Turvey claimed second place on the grid for tomorrow's GP2 Asia pitstop race in Abu Dhabi with a dramatic last lap in the dying seconds of qualifying this evening. The RSF driver snatched the remaining front row berth from iSport team mate Davide Valsecchi by eight-hundredths of a second after completing the fastest final sector of the session. He will line up alongside fellow rookie Charles Pic who clinched pole position by just two-hundredths of a second in the dry but slippery conditions. Turvey was down in fifth with less than a minute of the session to go before pulling out all the stops to claim his second front row start of the eight-race series. "Last time here I didn't know the car or the track when we arrived as I had to miss the two-day test to compete in the last round of World Series [Formula Renault 3.5], the same as Charles," he said. "But this time I felt much more confident with the car. The track was improving throughout the session but, to be honest, on the last lap the tyres had already gone so I was quite surprised I improved." The front row start was all the more satisfying after a collision with the Italian Luca Filippi in the earlier free practice session cut short his preparations for qualifying. The incident damaged a track rod bringing an early end to the session for Turvey. "That was a bit frustrating," he added. "I was trying to get out of [Filippi's] way, got off line and he turned into me. So there was not a lot I could do. But qualifying went really well and iSport did a fantastic job. "They've really helped me improve and I think there's still a bit more to come as I am getting more and more used to the car. So hopefully we can win tomorrow which would be fantastic for the team and the RSF which provides me with such fantastic support." Racing resumes tomorrow afternoon after a three-month break. The reverse grid race follows on Saturday. << back to news