Monaco GP2: Jolyon Palmer claims pole ahead of Rio Haryanto

Split into two 16-minute periods, Group A for odd-numbered cars and Group B for evens, it was the first session that proved most competitive in terms of strength in depth and, most importantly, being the faster it gave Palmer pole position.

Palmer, who was investigated but exonerated for overtaking under yellows in practice, left his run until the closing five minutes of the opening session. His first attempt was a 1m20.774s, which he followed up with a 1m20.969s - either of which were good enough for pole.

In the slower Group B session, Caterham's Rio Haryanto just shaded Palmer's team-mate Stephane Richelmi by 0.011 seconds.

That means Haryanto will start from P2, with Richelmi in P4.

Mitch Evans's late flyer in Group A for Russian Time gave him third on the grid, and demoted Johnny Cecotto Jr (who complained he was held up by Daniel Abt) to fifth.

Bahrain winner Stoffel Vandoorne will start sixth for ART.

It was a disastrous day for Felipe Nasr, the Barcelona sprint race winner only qualifying on row eight for Carlin after crashing in morning practice.

Pos  Driver               Team                Time       Group
 1.  Jolyon Palmer        DAMS                1m20.774s  Group A
 2.  Rio Haryanto         Caterham            1m21.433s  Group B
 3.  Mitch Evans          Russian Time        1m21.188s  Group A
 4.  Stephane Richelmi    DAMS                1m21.444s  Group B
 5.  Johnny Cecotto Jr    Trident             1m21.361s  Group A
 6.  Stoffel Vandoorne    ART                 1m21.508s  Group B
 7.  Daniel Abt           Hilmer              1m21.760s  Group A
 8.  Stefano Coletti      Racing Engineering  1m21.649s  Group B
 9.  Raffaele Marciello   Racing Engineering  1m21.917s  Group A
10.  Julian Leal          Carlin              1m21.752s  Group B
11.  Alexander Rossi      Caterham            1m22.146s  Group A
12.  Sergio Canamasas     Trident             1m21.926s  Group B
13.  Simon Trummer        Rapax               1m22.296s  Group A
14.  Arthur Pic           Campos              1m22.207s  Group B
15.  Felipe Nasr          Carlin              1m22.381s  Group A
16.  Rene Binder          Arden               1m22.270s  Group B
17.  Kimiya Sato          Campos              1m22.588s  Group A
18.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs  Rapax               1m22.277s  Group B
19.  Tio Ellinas          MP                  1m22.681s  Group A
20.  Facu Regalia         Hilmer              1m22.473s  Group B
21.  Conor Daly           Lazarus             1m22.997s  Group A
22.  Daniel de Jong       MP                  1m22.488s  Group B
23.  Andre Negrao         Arden               1m23.178s  Group A
24.  Nathanael Berthon    Lazarus             1m22.632s  Group B
25.  Takuya Izawa         ART                 1m23.259s  Group A
26.  Artem Markelov       Russian Time        1m23.347s  Group B