Kobayashi wins qualification race

The Japanese driver, who started from pole position, briefly lost the lead at the start but made the most of the slipstreaming potential on the run to Lisboa to move back to the front.

From there he did not look back as he steadily extended his lead over Asmer, who had moved up from fourth to second off the start - helped in part by third place starter Romain Grosjean stalling on the grid.

Asmer came under intense pressure from Kohei Hirate over the second half of the race, but held him off to secure a front row start for tomorrow's main event.

Paul di Resta fought hard to take fourth place, with Kodai Tsukakoshi finishing fifth after a thrilling race-long battle with eventual sixth placed finisher Adrian Sutil. Briton Mike Conway, who set the fastest lap, finished seventh after a stirring drive from 11th on the grid.

There was big disappointment from Sebastian Vettel, who failed to make an impression from ninth on the grid. He eventually ended up against the wall on the penultimate lap.

Results

Pos  Driver             Make                          Time
 1.  Kamui Kobayashi    Dallara Mercedes-HWA     22:45.199
 2.  Marko Asmer        Dallara Mercedes-HWA       + 3.333
 3.  Kohei Hirate       Dallara Mercedes-HWA       + 3.935
 4.  Paul Di Resta      Dallara Mercedes-HWA       + 6.715
 5.  Kodai Tsukakoshi   Dallara Mercedes-HWA       + 9.714
 6.  Adrian Sutil       Dallara Toyota-TOM'S      + 10.328
 7.  Mike Conway        Dallara Mercedes-HWA      + 10.892
 8.  Kazuki Nakajima    Dallara Mercedes-HWA      + 12.686
 9.  Richard Antinucci  Dallara Mercedes-HWA      + 15.517
10.  Charlie Kimball    Dallara Mercedes-HWA      + 15.950
11.  Oliver Jarvis      Dallara Honda-Mugen NB    + 17.756
12.  Sebastien Buemi    Dallara Honda-Mugen NB    + 19.495
13.  Stephen Jelley     Dallara Mercedes-HWA      + 20.181
14.  Daisuke Ikeda      Dallara Toyota-TOM'S      + 21.526
15.  Romain Grosjean    Dallara Mercedes-HWA      + 22.476
16.  Kazuya Oshima      Dallara Toyota-TOM'S      + 35.924
17.  Mauro Massironi    Dallara Honda-Mugen NB    + 42.497
18.  Maximo Cortes      Dallara Mercedes-HWA      + 42.802
19.  James Winslow      Dallara Toyota-TOM'S      + 45.174
20.  James Jakes        Dallara Mercedes-HWA      + 45.486
21.  Roldan Rodriguez   Dallara Mercedes-HWA      + 46.310
22.  Fabio Carbone      Dallara Nissan          + 1:09.008
23.  Michael Ho         Dallara Honda-Mugen NB  + 1:19.886
24.  Rodolfo Avila      Dallara Honda-Mugen NB  + 1:30.749
25.  Cheong Lou Meng    Dallara Honda-Mugen NB  + 1:50.156
26.  Lei Kit Meng       Dallara Opel-Spiess     + 2:16.132
27.  Jo Merszei         Dallara Toyota-TOM's       + 1 LAP

Not classified:

     Sebastian Vettel   Dallara Honda-Mugen NB      D.N.F.
     Jonathan Kennard   Dallara Honda-Mugen NB      D.N.F.
     Yelmer Buurman     Dallara Mercedes-HWA        D.N.F.
     Robert Streit      Dallara Mercedes-HWA        D.N.F.
     Maro Engel         Dallara Honda-Mugen NB      D.N.F.

Fastest Lap: Mike Conway  Dallara Mercedes-HWA      2:13.457