ART Grand Prix has locked out the front row for tomorrow's GP2 feature race at Monza, with Jules Bianchi edging out teammate Sam Bird in today's qualifying session.
Bianchi established himself at the top with a 1m30.269sec early on and was never bettered, with Bird falling just 0.042sec shy of the Frenchman's time. Jerome D'Ambrosio will start from third for DAMS alongside iSport's Oliver Turvey.
Points leader Pastor Maldonado provided the only real drama of the session when he spun after catching too much curb at the first chicane and beached himself, bringing out the red flag with six minutes remaining.
The Venezuelan had been trying to improve upon seventh at the time, and considering that he only lost one position after the session restarted, the outcome certainly could have been worse from his point of view.
Maldonado's cause was helped by two yellow flags during the final five minutes, including one triggered by Adrian Zaugg going off at the Parabolica in the final moments of the session, that made it extremely difficult for anyone to lower their times.
Title contender Sergio Perez was among those unable to capitalize on his misfortune and will start alongside the Rapax driver in seventh, with Coloni's Alvaro Parente and DAMS' Romain Grosjean on the third row just ahead of them.
Coloni's Brendon Hartley was the quickest of the series debutants in 22nd, leaving Trident's Edoardo Piscopo to start from 24th.