The Hindu : Sport : Massa wins pole for the third straight year

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Massa wins pole for the third straight year

Kovalainen to start second from the grid

ISTANBUL: Felipe Massa of Ferrari won pole position for the Turkish Grand Prix for the third straight year on Saturday.

The two-time defending champion here will start first on the grid for Sunday’s race at the Istanbul Speed Park after clocking a best lap time of 1 minute, 27.617 seconds.

“I think I put together a very good lap ... it proved to be enough to be on pole,” Massa said. “I’m so happy here, to be on pole for the third time here. It’s a fantastic track for me.”

Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren will start second after finishing less than two-tenths of a second behind Massa. Kovalainen’s best qualifying of the season comes less than two weeks after a violent crash at the Spanish GP that left the Finn in the hospital.

Roller-coaster ride

“It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster obviously,” Kovalainen said. “A big accident in Spain and I have been lucky to survive without any injuries. Coming here ... I felt very confident with the car. It’s a pleasure to start from front row.”

Kovalainen’s teammate Lewis Hamilton will start from third ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari, while BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica goes from fifth.

Mark Webber of Red Bull starts sixth ahead of Renault’s Fernando Alonso, while Jarni Trulli of Toyota, BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld and David Coulthard of Red Bull round out the top 10.

Massa, who won his first-ever GP here in 2006, is looking to be the first driver to win the same race three straight years since former teammate Michael Schumacher won four consecutive races at Indianapolis between 2003-06.

Massa’s championship aspirations have gained momentum after failing to get a point in the first two races of the season. The Brazilian driver bounced back with a second Bahrain GP trophy and a runner-up finish to Raikkonen at the Spanish GP.

“It won’t be easy because our competitors are quite strong and close,” Massa said. “We’ll try to do everything right and put the tyres on at the right moment.”

All three Turkish GPs have been won by the pole sitter.

Defending World champion Raikkonen leads the overall standings with 29 points, nine more than Hamilton. Kubica is next at 19 with Massa a further point behind in fourth.

Raikkonen, who won the inaugural Turkish GP when he was with McLaren three years ago, has struggled to find his car’s balance since a gearbox problem forced him out of Friday’s first practice session. The Finn looked jittery through the first two rounds of qualifying but got it together in the final session.

Super Aguri’s withdrawal from the Formula One championship meant that only five, rather than six, cars were excluded after each of the first two parts of qualifying. Super Aguri pulled out of F1 on Tuesday due to financial difficulties.

Fisichella to start last

Giancarlo Fisichella of Force India starts last despite finishing 19th in qualifying because he exited pit lane before the green light went on to start in Friday’s practice sessions. Teammate Adrian Sutil swapped spots with the Italian.

The results: (qualifying): 1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1 min 27.617 sec; 2. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 1:27.808; 3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:27.923; 4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:27.936; 5. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 1:28.390. 6. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:28.417; 7. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 1:28.422; 8. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 1:28.836; 9. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 1:28.882; 10. David Coulthard, Red Bull, 1:29.959; 19. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 1:27.807; 20. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:28.325. — AP

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