Having finished second in free practice this morning, rookie Nico Hülkenberg continued to impress this afternoon as he secured pole position at his first attempt in GP2 Asia.

The German youngster He topped the timing sheets only 10 minutes into the session and then posted an unbeatable 1:41.351 in the final minutes of the session.

Dams took P2 and P3 with Jérôme d'Ambrosio leading Kamui Kobayashi, the two drivers fighting until the very last second to try and take the top stop, with the Belgian leapfrogging his teammate just before the chequered flag.

However, the battle for front rows wasn't just about these three, there was also a highly impressive debut from Arden's Edoardo Mortara who eventually finished fourth quickest, thereby starting tomorrow's race alongside championship leader Kobayashi.

Roldan Rodriguez (Piquet GP) left it until the chequered flag to clock in his fastest lap time. The Spaniard finished fifth ahead of iSport's Van der Garde, ART's Sakon Yamamoto, Super Nova's Javier Villa, and GP2 returnee Marco Bonanomi (Meritus.Mahara).

Davide Valsecchi, at the wheel of the Durango car, completed the Top 10. Earlier in the session, his teammate Della Stelle went off track on cold tyres and was unable to rejoin.