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Di Resta, Sutil to start 5th, 6th in Bahrain GP

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Press Trust of India Manama (Bahrain)
Sahara Force India registered their best qualifying performance this season with Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil setting the seventh and eighth fastest times at the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix here today.

Di Resta, who clocked 1m 33.235s in Q3, continued to shade his German team-mate Sutil (1m 33.246s).

But, there is more good news in store for Force India as even though Di Resta and Sutil set the seventh and eighth fastest times, they will start the race fifth and sixth on the grid tomorrow after penalties were handed out to Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton.

Nico Rosberg snatched Mercedes' second pole position in a row when his lap of 1m 32.330s beat Sebastian Vettel's best of 1m 32.584s in the Red Bull.
 

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was third fastest.

Hamilton, who clocked fourth fastest time in the qualifying, was handed a five-place grid penalty for a gear box change in the morning's final free practice session and will now start tomorrow's race ninth.

In the second Ferrari, Brazilian Felipe Massa will start from fourth place after qualifying sixth behind Australian Mark Webber, who was given a three-place grid penalty brought forward from last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

Like Di Resta and Sutil, Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen also profited from the penalties as he starts seventh after originally finishing ninth, while McLaren's Jenson Button will complete the top 10.

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First Published: Apr 20 2013 | 8:10 PM IST

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