Duval wins qualification race

Duval, who started from pole position, lost the lead briefly to Kubica at the start after making a poor getaway, but was able to move back to the front on the run into Mandarin Bend.

He then managed to open up a three second gap by the end of the second lap and, although he lost time late in the race after getting caught up behind a backmarker, he was never under much threat. He backed off on the final lap when the win was assured.

"After the first few laps I was two or three seconds ahead and it was easy to look in the mirrors and see what Robert was doing," said Duval. "It was easy for me to push at the beginning and then it was just a question of keeping three or four seconds ahead."

Kubica said that there was nothing he could do to hold off Duval on the run down to Lisboa and claimed that his focus after that was in ensuring he kept the car in one piece for tomorrow's race rather than take risks to try and close down on the leader.

"The race went okay, but nobody was pushing as hard as they could," he said. "This was only a qualification race. It is tomorrow that really counts."

Di Grassi had made a good getaway from fourth place on the grid to snatch third off Manor Motorsport teammate Mike Conway on the run through the first corner. And despite coming under threat from Conway on lap four after he lost momentum when he made a mistake at the final corner, di Grassi had no problem taking the third spot.

Conway duly finished fourth, with Paolo Montin taking fifth place ahead of Joao Paolo de Oliveira and Kazuki Nakajima.

The race was relatively incident free - although Taku Bamba and Cheong Lou Meng were eliminated after colliding as they formed up on the grid. Bruno Senna was the only other major retirement, after stopping on the second lap.

Pos  Driver              Make-Engine              Time
 1.  Loic Duval          Dallara Mercedes-HWA     22:19.317
 2.  Robert Kubica       Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB   +   1.577
 3.  Lucas Di Grassi     Dallara Mercedes-HWA     +   7.391
 4.  Mike Conway         Dallara Mercedes-HWA     +   8.180
 5.  Paolo Montin        Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB   +  14.368
 6.  Joao P De Oliveira  Dallara Toyota-Tom's     +  15.041
 7.  Kazuki Nakajima     Dallara Toyota-Tom's     +  21.546
 8.  Sebastian Vettel    Dallara Mercedes-HWA     +  22.161
 9.  Charlie Kimball     Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB   +  27.704
10.  Danny Watts         Dallara Toyota-Tom's     +  28.775
11.  Christian Bakkerud  Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB   +  29.031
12.  Guillaume Moreau    Dallara Opel-Spiess      +  29.870
13.  Dan Clarke          Dallara Opel-Spiess      +  30.139
14.  Naoki Yokomizo      Dallara Nissan-Tomei     +  30.862
15.  Franck Perera       Dallara Opel-Spiess      +  31.336
16.  Romain Grosjean     Dallara Opel-Spiess      +  32.047
17.  Karl Reindler       Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB   +  32.653
18.  Steven Kane         Lola Honda-Mugen/NB      +  33.361
19.  Fabio Carbone       SLC Opel-Spiess          +  44.196
20.  Daisuke Ikeda       Dallara Toyota-Tom's     +  45.059
21.  Stephen Jelley      Dallara Opel-Spiess      +  46.986
22.  Kohei Hirate        Dallara Opel-Spiess      +  54.855
23.  Fillip Salaquarda   Dallara Opel-Spiess      +1:02.670
24.  Rodolfo Avila       Dallara Mercedes Hwa     +1:10.114
25.  Michael Ho          Dallara Toyota-Tom's     +1:15.428
26.  Jo Merszei          Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB   +   1 Lap
27.  Lei Kit Meng        Dallara Opel-Spiess      +   1 Lap

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Driver              Make-Engine               On Lap
     Cheong Lou Me       Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB       4
     Bruno Senna         Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB       1