Formula Renault 3.5 title chasers Jules Bianchi and Sam Bird locked out the front row of the grid for the second race at Paul Ricard on Sunday, with points leader Robin Frijns only eighth.
But Bianchi’s pole could yet come under threat, with the Tech 1 driver under investigation for an incident with Vittorio Ghirelli.
Polesitter Bianchi was a frontrunner from the moment the first flying laps got underway. During the first runs he traded blows at the top with Alexander Rossi, while later in the session he had to respond to an attack from Kevin Magnussen.
The Ferrari junior driver was then on course to improve again, but he clattered into the back of a touring Ghirelli into the final corner, ruining his lap and spinning the Italian.
However, any hopes his rivals had of taking advantage of that incident were dashed when the red flag came out with just 29 seconds remaining after Kevin Korjus stopped out on track.
That left Bianchi, who is 18 points behind Frijns in the championship, on pole, but the stewards are looking into the clash with Ghirelli.
Bird, who is next up in the standings and 32 points back, will start alongside him on the front row.
Nico Muller knocked Magnussen back another place to take third in the final minute, while Rossi had to settle for fifth after his early scrap for pole with Bianchi.
Arthur Pic and race one winner Antonio Felix da Costa were next up, with Frijns completing the fourth row just 0.4 seconds adrift of pole.
Saturday polesitter Nick Yelloly took ninth, while GP3 runner-up Daniel Abt had his best qualifying performance since switching to FR 3.5 and completed the top 10.
Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/bianchi-beats-bird-to-ricard-pole
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