Charles Pic denied Luca Filippi a pole position upon his switch to Scuderia Coloni by beating him to top spot in qualifying at the Nurburgring by just 0.078 seconds.
It was Addax driver Pic who led the train of cars out of the pits at the beginning of the session, and the Frenchman took advantage of the clear track to set the early pace. Sam Bird soon took top spot though with his first competitive time.
Esteban Gutierrez went fastest on his next lap, just before Romain Grosjean moved ahead by nearly four tenths. Pic and Jules Bianchi then moved into second and third behind their compatriot to make it a French 1-2-3.
As most of the field returned to the pits in the middle of the session Luca Filippi, who switched from Super Nova to Coloni prior to this weekend, took top spot by going 0.011s quicker than Grosjean.
When the drivers returned to the track for the final ten minutes it looked like Filippi might hold on, but Pic went fastest by a tenth as the session moved into the last five minutes. Filippi improved his time before the checkered flag, but it was not quite enough to steal pole away from Pic and he remained second.
Grosjean and Bianchi held on to third and fourth places, with Giedo van der Garde taking fifth place. Fabio Leimer was sixth, just ahead of Alvaro Parente and Gutierrez, as positions four to six were covered by just over six hundredths of a second.
Marcus Ericsson was ninth with Luiz Razia tenth. Bird could only manage a disappointing 11th in the end. Despite strong sector times he was unable to string a good lap together. Adam Carroll qualified in 15th place upon his GP2 return with Super Nova, while Max Chilton will start from the back after a session disrupted by technical issues.
Qualifying results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Charles Pic | Barwa Addax Team | 1:40.317 | 12 | |
| 2 | Luca Filippi | Scuderia Coloni | 1:40.393 | 0.076 | 11 |
| 3 | Romain Grosjean | DAMS | 1:40.431 | 0.114 | 13 |
| 4 | Jules Bianchi | Lotus ART | 1:40.755 | 0.438 | 13 |
| 5 | Giedo van der Garde | Barwa Addax Team | 1:40.781 | 0.464 | 13 |
| 6 | Fabio Leimer | Rapax | 1:40.794 | 0.477 | 15 |
| 7 | Alvaro Parente | Carlin | 1:40.803 | 0.486 | 14 |
| 8 | Esteban Gutierrez | Lotus ART | 1:40.817 | 0.500 | 13 |
| 9 | Marcus Ericsson | iSport International | 1:40.859 | 0.542 | 12 |
| 10 | Luiz Razia | Caterham Team AirAsia | 1:40.968 | 0.651 | 14 |
| 11 | Sam Bird | iSport International | 1:40.970 | 0.653 | 12 |
| 12 | Dani Clos | Racing Engineering | 1:40.998 | 0.681 | 12 |
| 13 | Michael Herck | Scuderia Coloni | 1:41.059 | 0.742 | 12 |
| 14 | Christian Vietoris | Racing Engineering | 1:41.101 | 0.784 | 12 |
| 15 | Adam Carroll | Super Nova Racing | 1:41.141 | 0.824 | 12 |
| 16 | Stefano Coletti | Trident Racing | 1:41.166 | 0.849 | 13 |
| 17 | Kevin Mirocha | Ocean Racing Technology | 1:41.268 | 0.951 | 13 |
| 18 | Davide Valsecchi | Caterham Team AirAsia | 1:41.354 | 1.037 | 11 |
| 19 | Josef Kral | Arden International | 1:41.356 | 1.039 | 12 |
| 20 | Rodolfo Gonzalez | Trident Racing | 1:41.489 | 1.172 | 14 |
| 21 | Johnny Cecotto | Ocean Racing Technology | 1:41.489 | 1.172 | 14 |
| 22 | Jolyon Palmer | Arden International | 1:41.594 | 1.277 | 13 |
| 23 | Pal Varhaug | DAMS | 1:41.633 | 1.316 | 13 |
| 24 | Julian Leal | Rapax | 1:41.894 | 1.577 | 15 |
| 25 | Fairuz Fauzy | Super Nova Racing | 1:41.966 | 1.649 | 15 |
| 26 | Max Chilton | Carlin | 1:42.783 | 2.466 | 9 |
