Valsecchi beats Maldonado to pole

Maldonado had held the top spot for two thirds of the session, but Valsecchi's final lap of 1m34.860s was enough to dislodge the Rapax driver by just 0.015 seconds.

Moments before Valsecchi completed his pole lap, team-mate Oliver Turvey pulled a similar trick to launch himself from 10th to third, completing a good afternoon for the iSport team.

Current points leader Sergio Perez will start from fourth for Addax alongside ART's Sam Bird, with Perez's team-mate Giedo van der Garde and Dani Clos (Racing Engineering) just behind them.

Of the rest, Super Nova rookie Josef Kral had a decent shot at a top 10 start when he found himself alone on the track for three laps during the middle of the session, but the Czech overcooked it at Turn 8 and tank-slapped the tyre wall, bringing his day to an early end and consigning himself to starting 17th.

Pos  Driver               Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Davide Valsecchi     iSport              1m34.860s
 2.  Pastor Maldonado     Rapax               1m34.875s  + 0.015s
 3.  Oliver Turvey        iSport              1m35.135s  + 0.275s
 4.  Sergio Perez         Barwa Addax         1m35.194s  + 0.334s
 5.  Sam Bird             ART                 1m35.267s  + 0.407s
 6.  Giedo van der Garde  Barwa Addax         1m35.348s  + 0.488s
 7.  Dani Clos            Racing Engineering  1m35.364s  + 0.504s
 8.  Charles Pic          Arden               1m35.411s  + 0.551s
 9.  Alberto Valerio      Coloni              1m35.491s  + 0.631s
10.  Luiz Razia           Rapax               1m35.527s  + 0.667s
11.  Christian Vietoris   Racing Engineering  1m35.664s  + 0.804s
12.  Jules Bianchi        ART                 1m35.676s  + 0.816s
13.  Giacomo Ricci        DPR                 1m35.750s  + 0.890s
14.  Michael Herck        DPR                 1m35.762s  + 0.902s
15.  Max Chilton          Ocean               1m35.842s  + 0.982s
16.  Jerome D'Ambrosio    DAMS                1m35.926s  + 1.066s
17.  Josef Kral           Super Nova          1m35.955s  + 1.095s
18.  Adrian Zaugg         Trident             1m35.957s  + 1.097s
19.  Marcus Ericsson      Super Nova          1m35.973s  + 1.113s
20.  Johnny Cecotto       Trident             1m36.047s  + 1.187s
21.  Fabio Leimer         Ocean               1m36.167s  + 1.307s
22.  Vlado Arabadjiev     Coloni              1m36.564s  + 1.704s
23.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Arden               1m36.628s  + 1.768s
24.  Ho-Pin Tung          DAMS                1m36.663s  + 1.803s