Fabio Leimer takes maiden GP2 pole in Abu Dhabi qualifying

The Swiss, who switched from Rapax to Racing Engineering for this weekend, bumped Arden driver Josef Kral from the top of the timesheets shortly before the session was red-flagged after pole position favourite Esteban Gutierrez's ART entry ground to a halt at Turn 8.

Spanish driver Dani Clos, who moved in the opposite direction to Leimer to drive for Rapax, ended up second after putting in a lap two tenths off Leimer to get ahead of Kral moments before Gutierrez hit trouble.

With only three-and-a-half minutes available after the stoppage, a number of drivers' second qualifying runs were interrupted and the top 10 did not change.

This left Kral third courtesy of the lap-time he set on his first run. Luiz Razia (AirAsia) and Jolyon Palmer (Addax) will line up behind him after also putting together strong laps during their first outings.

Carlin driver Max Chilton was the biggest climber in the second qualifying runs, leaping from 18th to sixth, setting the fastest middle sector of the day. This put him just ahead of Coloni driver Kevin Ceccon, who had posted his mark on his first set of tyres.

Gutierrez ended up a disappointing eighth after languishing half a second off the pace on his first run. He improved a little on his first lap on his second set of tyres before grinding to a halt. He will line up ahead of Tom Dillmann, the best placed of the GP2 rookies on his debut weekend with iSport.

Stefano Coletti, in the second Coloni entry, will start 10th after setting an identical time to Dillmann. In this situation, the regulations dictate that the driver who set their lap first is classified ahead, giving the Frenchman the advantage.

GP3 graduate James Calado, making his GP2 debut for ART, was the biggest improver in the post-red flag running, jumping from 17th to 12th with a last-lap effort. This put him just ahead of old GP3 rival Nigel Melker, making his bow in the category for DAMS.

Giacomo Ricci (Super Nova) will drop from 11th on the grid to 21st due to a yellow flag penalty, while slowest qualifier Nicolas Marroc (Ocean) committed the same offence but was already at the back.

Pos  Driver                  Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Fabio Leimer            Racing Engineering  1m49.363s
 2.  Dani Clos               Rapax               1m49.570s  + 0.207s
 3.  Josef Kral              Arden               1m49.612s  + 0.249s
 4.  Luiz Razia              AirAsia             1m49.649s  + 0.286s
 5.  Jolyon Palmer           Addax               1m49.697s  + 0.334s
 6.  Max Chilton             Carlin              1m49.737s  + 0.374s
 7.  Kevin Ceccon            Coloni              1m49.751s  + 0.388s
 8.  Esteban Gutierrez       ART                 1m49.822s  + 0.459s
 9.  Tom Dillmann            iSport              1m50.070s  + 0.707s
10.  Stefano Coletti         Coloni              1m50.070s  + 0.707s
11.  Giacomo Ricci           Super Nova          1m50.074s  + 0.711s
12.  James Calado            ART                 1m50.074s  + 0.711s
13.  Nigel Melker            DAMS                1m50.147s  + 0.784s
14.  Marcus Ericsson         iSport              1m50.230s  + 0.867s
15.  Alexander Rossi         AirAsia             1m50.236s  + 0.873s
16.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Ocean               1m50.276s  + 0.913s
17.  Nathanael Berthon       Racing Engineering  1m50.296s  + 0.933s
18.  Jake Rosenzweig         Addax               1m50.374s  + 1.011s
19.  Julian Leal             Trident             1m50.374s  + 1.011s
20.  Rio Haryanto            DAMS                1m50.515s  + 1.152s
21.  Stephane Richelmi       Trident             1m50.600s  + 1.237s
22.  Simon Trummer           Arden               1m50.752s  + 1.389s
23.  Fabio Onidi             Super Nova          1m51.052s  + 1.689s
24.  Jan Charouz             Carlin              1m51.407s  + 2.044s
25.  Mihai Marinescu         Rapax               1m51.893s  + 2.530s
26.  Nicolas Marroc          Ocean               1m52.550s  + 3.187s