Jolyon Palmer on pole for 200th GP2 race at Hockenheim

Palmer set pole with his first flying lap in qualifying, a 1m23.383s, and then settled into watching everyone trying to beat it.

McLaren junior driver Stoffel Vandoorne came closest, getting to within 0.282s on his second run for ART, but Palmer claimed the four bonus points for pole and didn't even bother with a second flying lap to save his tyres.

Racing Engineering's Stefano Coletti will start third, having been toppled from the front row by Vandoorne in the second half of the session.

Tom Dillmann, who is making his series return with Caterham this weekend in place of the departed Alexander Rossi, will start fourth.

Championship challenger Felipe Nasr was fifth after pushing too hard on his final lap and running wide at Turn 1.

Silverstone poleman Raffaele Marciello should have been higher than eighth, but he twice got balked in the final corners, once by Rio Haryanto and, in the final seconds, by Takuya Izawa.

Rossi, who left Caterham this week to join Campos, will start ninth, ahead of Simon Trummer.

Silverstone winner Mitch Evans, fourth in the points table, could only manage 15th in his Russian Time machine.

Pos Driver               Team                  Time       Gap     Laps
 1. Jolyon Palmer        DAMS                  1m23.383s            8
 2. Stoffel Vandoorne    ART                   1m23.665s  +0.282s  12
 3. Stefano Coletti      Racing Engineering    1m23.722s  +0.339s  12
 4. Tom Dillmann         Caterham              1m23.776s  +0.393s  11
 5. Felipe Nasr          Carlin                1m23.781s  +0.398s  12
 6. Arthur Pic           Campos                1m23.859s  +0.436s  12
 7. Johnny Cecotto       Trident               1m23.860s  +0.477s  14
 8. Raffaele Marciello   Racing Engineering    1m23.918s  +0.535s  12
 9. Alexander Rossi      Campos                1m23.965s  +0.582s  13
10. Simon Trummer        Rapax                 1m23.983s  +0.600s  12
11. Stephane Richelmi    DAMS                  1m24.024s  +0.641s  12
12. Rene Binder          Arden                 1m24.094s  +0.711s  10
13. Nathanael Berthon    Lazarus               1m24.253s  +0.870s  11
14. Daniel Abt           Hilmer                1m24.311s  +0.928s  12
15. Mitch Evans          Russian Time          1m24.335s  +0.952s  11
16. Takuya Izawa         ART                   1m24.335s  +0.952s  11
17. Julian Leal          Carlin                1m24.421s  +1.038s  11
18. Conor Daly           Lazarus               1m24.437s  +1.054s  11
19. Jon Lancaster        Hilmer                1m24.453s  +1.0?0s  14
20. Andre Negrao         Arden                 1m24.476s  +1.093s  11
21. Artem Markelov       Russian Time          1m24.496s  +1.113s  11
22. Rio Haryanto         Caterham              1m24.502s  +1.119s  11
23. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs  Rapax                 1m24.590s  +1.20?s  12
24. Sergio Canamasas     Trident               1m24.598s  +1.215s  13
25. Marco Sorensen       MP                    1m24.888s  +1.505s  13
26. Daniel de Jong       MP                    1m25.189s  +1.806s  11