Grosjean grabs Zandvoort pole

Buemi required a late effort to beat local hero Yelmer Buurman to a spot on the front row, but Grosjean remained unfazed at the prospect of having his pursuer alongside him.

"I am ahead of him, so it's not a problem for me even if it's only one place," said Romain.

Signature's Yann Clairay continued his form from free practice, where he was fastest, to set the early running.

ASM's Grosjean and Komui Kobayashi were soon to sweep ahead, Grosjean finally showing his hand after running old tyres in the morning to open a healthy half-second advantage over Kobayashi.

With a third of the session completed, Harald Schlegelmilch brought out the red flags after spinning at the penultimate corner. The HS Technik machine came to a rest on track, but had stalled precariously on the outside line.

The order of the top six as the session re-started was Grosjean from Kobayashi, Clairay, Franck Mailleux in fourth, Nico Hulkenberg and James Jakes.

Manor Motorsport's Yelmer Buurman had been languishing in ninth, a place behind Buemi, but after a period where the times had stagnated, he gave the scattering of Dutch fans something to get excited about by shooting up to second with five minutes left on the clock.

However, the track activity was soon stifled again when Euan Hankey, making his second appearance of the year with AM-Holzer, found the gravel.

Most of the field opted to circulate while the yellow flags were out, including Clairay holding down fourth spot. The Frenchman's last attack never materialised when the Signature car started to run out of fuel. It was thus left to Buemi to make an attempt on Grosjean's time.

As the chequered flag fell the Swiss' effort fell two tenths short, but succeeded in putting a slight dampener on Buurman's day by bumping the Dutchman to third.

Pos Driver             Make               Time          
 1. Romain Grosjean    Dallara-Mercedes   1:32.290
 2. Sebastien Buemi    Dallara-Mercedes   1:32.459  + 0.169
 3. Yelmer Buurman     Dallara-Mercedes   1:32.687  + 0.397
 4. Kamui Kobayashi    Dallara-Mercedes   1:32.775  + 0.485
 5. Yann Clairay       Dallara-Mercedes   1:32.815  + 0.525
 6. Franck Mailleux    Dallara-Mercedes   1:32.933  + 0.643
 7. Daniel Clos        Dallara-Mercedes   1:33.085  + 0.795
 8. N.HUlkenberg       Dallara-Mercedes   1:33.096  + 0.806
 9. Edoardo Mortara    Dallara-Mercedes   1:33.215  + 0.925
10. James Jakes        Dallara-Mercedes   1:33.255  + 0.965
11. Tim Sandtler       Dallara-Mercedes   1:33.262  + 0.972
12. H.Schlegelmilch    Dallara-Mercedes   1:33.322  + 1.032
13. Filip Salaquarda   Dallara-Mercedes   1:33.568  + 1.278
14. Tom Dillmann       Dallara-Mercedes   1:33.581  + 1.291
15. R.van der Zande    Dallara-Mercedes   1:33.614  + 1.324
16. Jean-Karl Vernay   Dallara-Mercedes   1:33.755  + 1.465
17. Michael Patrizi    Dallara-Mercedes   1:33.907  + 1.617
18. Edoardo Piscopo    Dallara-Mercedes   1:34.057  + 1.767
19. Marco Holzer       Dallara-Opel       1:34.256  + 1.966
20. Cyndie Allemann    Dallara-Mercedes   1:34.355  + 2.065
21. Euan Hankey        Dallara-Mercedes   1:34.394  + 2.104
22. Sergei Afanasiev   Dallara-Mercedes   1:35.186  + 2.896
23. Basil Shaaban      Dallara-Mercedes   1:35.281  + 2.991