Rosberg, Piquet on Front Row

Rosberg set the fastest time of 1:31.509 early in the session and kept the leading spot throughout, despite a fierce challenge from Piquet, who continuously chipped away but was just unable to take his first pole in the series.

Behind the pair, Championship leader Heikki Kovalainen will line up third, unable to do better than four tenths of a second off Rosberg's pace. Kovalainen heads Championship challenger Adam Carroll tomorrow, with fellow challenger Gianmaria Bruni lining up a disappointing twelfth.

Bruni, however, will gain one grid position due to penalties. Alex Premat, who qualified fourth, will drop back to 14th on the grid due to a ten position penalty handed to him in race two at Magny Cours. Similarly Ernesto Viso, 15th in the session, will line up on the last spot of the grid for tomorrow's race.

The session was bookended by spins, with DPR's Olivier Pla spinning into a stall in the middle of the track early on and requiring a push from the marshalls to get restarted, while Xandi Negrao found the gravel in a cloud of dust with a minute to go, effectively bringing the session to an end.

The front row starters will be emulating their illustrious fathers' fierce battle in the 1985 British Grand Prix, when Keke Rosberg headed Nelson Piquet on the grid at Silverstone.

They may not want to repeat their fathers' performances, though: Piquet finished fourth in the race, while Rosberg retired.

Pos  Driver      Team                      Time              Laps
 1.  Rosberg     ART Grand Prix            1:31.509            7
 2.  Piquet Jr.  Hitech Piquet Sports      1:31.550 + 0.041   12
 3.  Kovalainen  Arden International       1:31.929 + 0.420    8
 4.  Premat      ART Grand Prix            1:31.987 + 0.478    9
 5.  Carroll     Super Nova International  1:32.004 + 0.495   14 *
 6.  Jani        Racing Engineering        1:32.190 + 0.681    8
 7.  Lopez       DAMS                      1:32.298 + 0.789   10
 8.  Speed       iSport International      1:32.339 + 0.830   12
 9.  Pantano     Super Nova International  1:32.359 + 0.850   12
10.  Lapierre    Arden International       1:32.374 + 0.865   10
11.  Piccione    Durango                   1:32.395 + 0.886   11
12.  Bruni       Coloni Motorsport         1:32.446 + 0.937   11
13.  Pla         DPR                       1:32.467 + 0.958   12
14.  Alvarez     Campos Racing             1:32.793 + 1.284   12
15.  Viso        BCN Competicion           1:32.816 + 1.307   12 *
16.  Garcia      Racing Engineering        1:32.848 + 1.339   11
17.  Yoshimoto   BCN Competicion           1:32.941 + 1.432   12
18.  Monfardini  Durango                   1:32.953 + 1.444   14
19.  Fauzy       DAMS                      1:33.006 + 1.497    9
20.  Hernandez   Campos Racing             1:33.226 + 1.717   11
21.  Sharp       DPR                       1:33.298 + 1.789   11
22.  Artam       iSport International      1:34.033 + 2.524   11
23.  Negrao      Hitech Piquet Sports      1:34.109 + 2.600   12
24.  Lauda       Coloni Motorsport         1:34.692 + 3.183   10