James Calado takes pole position for Lotus GP in GP2 qualifying at Barcelona

Control supplier Pirelli mandated soft-compound option rubber for this event, two steps ahead of the 'hard' prime, which meant drivers used it like a qualifying tyre. This, coupled with the benefit of the Formula 1 rubber laid down from free practice, meant that 25 of the 26 cars took to the track immediately - only practice pacesetter Josef Kral eschewing this option by staying in the pits, and ending up 16th on the grid.

Tom Dillmann was one of the first of the frontrunners on a flying lap, but spun at the right-hander before the chicane on the crucial lap for the bulk of the field. Yellow flags ruined the laps of the majority of those behind him, with the late-out James Calado taking the most advantage, setting a 1m30.655s after Dillmann had got going again.

Also taking full advantage of this strange situation was Trident's Stephane Richelmi - who starts third despite not having scored a point all season - and Carlin's Max Chilton in fourth. Many expected frontrunners found the tyres had gone off before a second quick lap was possible, and were forced to revert to primes to try and move up the grid.

Arden's Luiz Razia, second in the points, went for the strategy of a prime-tyre first run, which netted 12th, and saved his option tyres for his second attempt. He came across three cars on out-laps, however, and a poor final sector meant he did not improve his time, and dropped to 13th by the end of the session.

Racing Engineering's Fabio Leimer also took this strategy, and from fourth on his prime-tyred run, he improved his time with seven minutes remaining to grab the second spot on the front row on his option tyres. His 1m30.865s was 0.210 seconds down on Calado's pace.

Giedo van der Garde will start fifth for Caterham Racing, ahead of Scuderia Coloni's Fabio Onidi.

Points leader Davide Valsecchi will start seventh. He lapped in 1m31.212s on options, and almost matched it with a prime-booted 1m31.285s in his DAMS car. He appeared to be baulked by Calado's team-mate Esteban Gutierrez at one point late in the session - Gutierrez will start down in 11th.

The session ended with Simon Trummer in the gravel at Turn 4 in his Arden machine.

Pos  Driver               Team                Time       Gap
 1.  James Calado         Lotus               1m30.655s
 2.  Fabio Leimer         Racing Engineering  1m30.865s  + 0.210s
 3.  Stephane Richelmi    Trident             1m30.902s  + 0.247s
 4.  Max Chilton          Carlin              1m30.962s  + 0.307s
 5.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham            1m31.006s  + 0.351s
 6.  Fabio Onidi          Coloni              1m31.167s  + 0.512s
 7.  Davide Valsecchi     DAMS                1m31.212s  + 0.557s
 8.  Stefano Coletti      Coloni              1m31.212s  + 0.557s
 9.  Jolyon Palmer        iSport              1m31.269s  + 0.614s
10.  Nathanael Berthon    Racing Engineering  1m31.308s  + 0.653s
11.  Esteban Gutierrez    Lotus               1m31.320s  + 0.665s
12.  Nigel Melker         Ocean               1m31.332s  + 0.677s
13.  Luiz Razia           Arden               1m31.377s  + 0.722s
14.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport              1m31.391s  + 0.736s
15.  Johnny Cecotto       Addax               1m31.565s  + 0.910s
16.  Josef Kral           Addax               1m31.599s  + 0.944s
17.  Fabrizio Crestani    Lazarus             1m31.677s  + 1.022s
18.  Tom Dillmann         Rapax               1m31.682s  + 1.027s
19.  Simon Trummer        Arden               1m31.939s  + 1.284s
20.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Caterham            1m31.966s  + 1.311s
21.  Victor Guerin        Ocean               1m32.270s  + 1.615s
22.  Felipe Nasr          DAMS                1m32.325s  + 1.670s
23.  Julian Leal          Trident             1m32.691s  + 2.036s
24.  Rio Haryanto         Carlin              1m33.010s  + 2.355s
25.  Ricardo Teixeira     Rapax               1m33.083s  + 2.428s
26.  Giancarlo Serenelli  Lazarus             1m33.329s  + 2.674s