Massa wins pole position for European GP

VALENCIA, Spain — By nabbing the pole for the European Grand Prix, Felipe Massa was in prime position to make another challenge for the No. 1 post in the Formula One championship standings.

Massa timed a fastest lap of 1 minute, 38.989 seconds in his Ferrari on the 5.4 kilometer (3.4-mile) new Valencia street circuit, edging past series leader Lewis Hamilton of McLaren who was second placed with 1:39.199.

Going into Sunday’s race, Hamilton narrowly leads the drivers’ table with 62 points, five ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and eight in front of Massa.

In the last grand prix in Hungary three weeks ago, Massa looked all set to jump over Hamilton in the standings with a fourth season triumph but his engine gave out three laps from the checkered flag.

“To start from the pole here for the first time, for sure, is very nice,” the Brazilian said. “The track here is not very easy, especially the surface (which) is a little bit slippery, so to make the perfect lap is always difficult.

“For sure we have a great car. We showed that at some races this year,” he added. “We showed that at the last race, unfortunately some things happen.”

The pole was Massa’s fourth this year after Malaysia, Turkey and Monaco. He won at Bahrain, Turkey and France.

BMW’s Robert Kubica was third in 1:39.392 while defending world champion Raikkonen was fourth with 1:39.488.

“Fourth place is not what I was looking for but it’s definitely not the end of the world,” said the Finn. “I could have been higher up the grid but on my last run in the Q3 (third and final qualifying round) I locked the wheels at a few points and lost valuable time.

“It was nothing dramatic but at this circuit a small error is very costly. I still think I can be in the fight for a win,” Raikkonen said.

Hamilton, meanwhile, said he was satisfied.

“It’s a good starting position for us tomorrow,” Hamilton said. “(Felipe’s) going to be hard to beat tomorrow but we’ll certainly push for it.”

The 23-year-old Briton said he felt he lost time in the course’s opening third, fourth and fifth turns.

“It was a struggling lap,” he said but added, “We are the closest to the Ferraris at least and I’m really quite happy with the job we did today.”

Home favorite and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso was eliminated after the second session, as was teammate Nelson Piquet Jr.

“I am understandably disappointed with the qualifying session because I had other hopes for today. The race tomorrow will therefore be more difficult, but as we’re on a street course anything is possible in the race,” said Alonso.

Kubica, meanwhile, was upbeat about his placing.

“This was a very good qualifying for the team and me,” Kubica said. “After some unlucky races lately the pace of the car here in Valencia is not that bad. However, there is a small gap to Ferrari and McLaren,”

The Polish driver is fourth in the overall standings on 49 points and although he won the Canadian GP in June, he managed only eighth place at Budapest, and BMW have admitted their car needs development.

The skies were heavily overcast and a few drops fell early in the session but the rain held off.

The temperature barely rose above 26 degrees (79 F) on the track, unusually low for August in this Mediterranean port city.

The forecast for Sunday’s race is also for very unsettled weather.

Valencia is the 12th of the season’s 18 GPs.

The starting grid for Sunday’s Formula One European Grand Prix at the 5.4-kilometer (3.4-mile) Valencia street circuit (with driver, nationality and team):

1. Felipe Massa, Brazil, Ferrari.

2. Lewis Hamilton, Britain, McLaren.

3. Robert Kubica, Poland, BMW-Sauber.

4. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Ferrari.

5. Heikki Kovalainen, Finland, McLaren.

6. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Toro Rosso.

7. Jarno Trulli, Italy, Toyota.

8. Nick Heidfeld, Germany, BMW-Sauber.

9. Nico Rosberg, Germany, Williams.

10. Sebastien Bourdais, France, Toro Rosso.

11. Kazuki Nakajima, Japan, Williams.

12. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Renault.