Oliver Turvey claimed pole position by a commanding half-second margin in qualifying for the GP2 season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Although the battle for pole had been close for most of the session, in the closing minutes iSport driver Turvey improved to a 1m48.559sec time that proved totally out of his rivals' reach.
Turvey's first GP2 pole comes in the same week that it was announced that he would test for McLaren in both the rookie and Pirelli sessions following this weekend's grand prix.
Dani Clos was second for Racing Engineering. The Spaniard has a late-notice, stand-in teammate this weekend after usual partner Christian Vietoris required surgery for appendicitis yesterday. Ex-DAMS driver Ho-Pin Tung was called up in Vietoris' place, but was only 23rd.
Future Sauber Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez (Addax) took third, but Pastor Maldonado – the man who has already beaten Perez to his year's GP2 title – was only 15th in the Rapax car. Fabio Leimer (Ocean), Davide Valsecchi (iSport) and Jules Bianchi (ART) completed the top six.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Oliver Turvey iSport 1m48.559s
2. Dani Clos Racing Engineering 1m49.035s + 0.476s
3. Sergio Perez Barwa Addax 1m49.081s + 0.522s
4. Fabio Leimer Ocean 1m49.148s + 0.589s
5. Davide Valsecchi iSport 1m49.307s + 0.748s
6. Jules Bianchi ART 1m49.338s + 0.779s
7. Luiz Razia Rapax 1m49.410s + 0.851s
8. Giedo van der Garde Barwa Addax 1m49.429s + 0.870s
9. Romain Grosjean DAMS 1m49.462s + 0.903s
10. Sam Bird ART 1m49.624s + 1.065s
11. Adrian Zaugg Trident 1m49.812s + 1.253s
12. Max Chilton Ocean 1m49.890s + 1.331s
13. Michael Herck DPR 1m50.160s + 1.601s
14. Fabio Crestani DPR 1m50.239s + 1.680s
15. Pastor Maldonado Rapax 1m50.362s + 1.803s
16. Rodolfo Gonzalez Arden 1m50.549s + 1.990s
17. Josef Kral Super Nova 1m50.559s + 2.000s
18. Brendon Hartley Coloni 1m50.568s + 2.009s
19. Charles Pic Arden 1m50.569s + 2.010s
20. Marcus Ericsson Super Nova 1m50.719s + 2.160s
21. Jerome D'Ambrosio DAMS 1m50.730s + 2.171s
22. James Jakes Coloni 1m50.901s + 2.342s
23. Ho-Pin Tung Racing Engineering 1m51.061s + 2.502s
24. Federico Leo Trident 1m52.170s + 3.611s