Adrian Quaife-Hobbs takes commanding Auto GP pole in Hungary

The Briton had already commanded both free practice sessions, and his stunning early effort of 1m32.725s was, for much of the qualifying session, almost 1.4 seconds faster than the opposition. The advantage prompted Quaife-Hobbs to remain in the pits for almost two thirds of qualifying and wait for someone to approach his time.

Super Nova team-mate Victor Guerin would come closest. Two minutes prior to the chequered flag, the Brazilian earned a front starting position for Saturday's opening race by a virtue of a lap just 0.112s shy of Quaife-Hobbs' pole time.

"We decided if we were on pole by more than one second after the first run we were going to box [pit]," said Quaife-Hobbs, who gains an advantage of a saved new set of medium compound Kumho tyres for the race.

"It was a good judgement call to stay in, but a bit nervy. The rules of the championship state you have to fuel for the whole session, as there's no refuelling. We weren't confident enough before the session to fuel for only one run. When I was did the pole lap by 1.4s, I was probably 15kg to 20kg heavier than when Victor set his time. At this track, 10 kilos is worth four tenths. The gap might look closer now, but in our minds we're still that much quicker."

Former Italian Formula 3 racer Guerin was satisfied with his highest starting position of the season. Handling difficulties in the opening practice session were rectified by a change to Quaife-Hobbs' set-up.

Norwegian Pal Varhaug took third for Virtuosi UK, ahead of improving Dutchman Daniel de Jong. Both de Jong and MP Motorsport team-mate Chris van der Drift elected to sit out the first half of the session to conserve tyres. While de Jong claimed an impressive fourth, Marrakech winner van der Drift was sidelined by a broken wheel.

Marrakech polesitter Sergey Sirotkin took fifth for Euronova Racing, the Russian ending the afternoon 0.017s ahead of Italian Formula 3 champion Sergio Campana (MLR 71).

Formula Renault 3.5 race-winner Sten Pentus was an impressive seventh for Zele Racing after gearbox problems in practice, while Ombra's fellow series returnee Adderly Fong was ninth.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car     Time       Gap
 1.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs  Super Nova   1m32.725s
 2.  Victor Guerin        Super Nova   1m32.837s  + 0.112s
 3.  Pal Varhaug          Virtuosi UK  1m33.129s  + 0.404s
 4.  Daniel de Jong       Manor MP     1m33.570s  + 0.845s
 5.  Sergey Sirotkin      Euronova     1m34.121s  + 1.396s
 6.  Sergio Campana       MLR 71       1m34.138s  + 1.413s
 7.  Sten Pentus          Zele         1m34.150s  + 1.425s
 8.  Facu Regalia         Campos       1m34.207s  + 1.482s
 9.  Adderly Fong         Ombra        1m34.833s  + 2.108s
10.  Giancarlo Serenelli  Ombra        1m35.119s  + 2.394s
11.  Giuseppe Cipriani    Campos       1m35.444s  + 2.719s
12.  Maxim Snegirev       Campos       1m35.448s  + 2.723s
13.  Antonio Spavone      Euronova     1m35.507s  + 2.782s
14.  Francesco Dracone    Virtuosi UK  1m35.625s  + 2.900s
15.  Michele la Rosa      MLR 71       1m37.623s  + 4.898s
16.  Chris van der Drift  Manor MP     1m47.331s  + 14.606s