Jules Bianchi took pole position for the GP2 feature race at Silverstone in a rain-hit qualifying session.
The driest running came at the beginning of the session, where ART driver Bianchi recorded the fastest time. Heavy rain set in after ten minutes, and the track conditions for the remainder of the session made it impossible for anyone to improve on their time.
This allowed Bianchi to secure pole, with Alvaro Parente second for Carlin. Championship leader Romain Grosjean was third fastest, but the Frenchman will take a ten place grid drop for a collision in Valencia.
Racing Engineering teammates Christian Vietoris and Dani Clos will make up the second row of the grid for the race. Max Chilton completed a good qualifying at home for Carlin in sixth, with Marcus Ericsson seventh. Esteban Gutierrez qualified in eighth, while Sam Bird could only manage ninth having topped free practice.
Of the other championship contenders, Charles Pic will line up one place behind Bird in ninth, with Davide Valsecchi just ahead of Grosjean in 12th. Giedo van der Garde was left down in 19th place when the rain came down.
Fabio Leimer did not set a lap time at the start of the session, leaving him 25th. Kevin Mirocha did not take part in qualifying and will miss the rest of the weekend due to a shoulder injury that he had coming into the weekend.
Qualifying results:
|
Pos |
Driver |
Team |
Time |
Gap |
| 1 | Jules Bianchi | Lotus ART | 1:58.531 | |
| 2 | Alvaro Parente | Carlin | 1:58.971 | 0.440 |
| 3 | Romain Grosjean* | DAMS | 1:59.020 | 0.489 |
| 4 | Christian Vietoris | Racing Engineering | 1:59.143 | 0.612 |
| 5 | Dani Clos | Racing Engineering | 1:59.881 | 1.350 |
| 6 | Max Chilton | Carlin | 1:59.952 | 1.421 |
| 7 | Marcus Ericsson | iSport International | 2:00.044 | 1.513 |
| 8 | Esteban Gutierrez | Lotus ART | 2:00.109 | 1.578 |
| 9 | Sam Bird | iSport International | 2:00.175 | 1.644 |
| 10 | Charles Pic | Barwa Addax Team | 2:00.223 | 1.692 |
| 11 | Johnny Cecotto | Ocean Racing Technology | 2:00.300 | 1.769 |
| 12 | Jolyon Palmer | Arden International | 2:00.462 | 1.931 |
| 13 | Davide Valsecchi | Caterham Team AirAsia | 2:00.527 | 1.996 |
| 14 | Michael Herck | Scuderia Coloni | 2:00.529 | 1.998 |
| 15 | Julian Leal | Rapax | 2:00.927 | 2.396 |
| 16 | Pal Varhaug | DAMS | 2:01.203 | 2.672 |
| 17 | Luca Filippi | Super Nova Racing | 2:01.315 | 2.784 |
| 18 | Kevin Ceccon | Scuderia Coloni | 2:01.816 | 3.285 |
| 19 | Giedo van der Garde | Barwa Addax Team | 2:01.894 | 3.363 |
| 20 | Luiz Razia | Caterham Team AirAsia | 2:01.922 | 3.391 |
| 21 | Stefano Coletti | Trident Racing | 2:02.681 | 4.150 |
| 22 | Josef Kral | Arden International | 2:02.800 | 4.269 |
| 23 | Rodolfo Gonzalez | Trident Racing | 2:03.268 | 4.737 |
| 24 | Fairuz Fauzy | Super Nova Racing | 2:04.518 | 5.987 |
| 25 | Fabio Leimer | Rapax | 2:08.608 | 10.077 |
* Ten-place grid penalty to be applied
