Hartley takes sensational pole

The New Zealander needs a pair of victories in Romania this weekend to keep his championship hopes alive and he got off to the best possible start by producing the lap of the season so far.

Oliver Turvey looked set to take his fifth consecutive pole position when he beat Jaime Alguersuari's best time with five minutes to go. But it all came down to the final minute of the session between the Carlin Motorsport trio.

Hartley knocked half a second off the pole time with a 1:12.7 on his penultimate lap. Turvey and Alguersuari responded with their last efforts but could only manage a 1:12.8 and 1:12.9 respectively.

But Hartley was already on his final lap and giving it everything. He carried incredible speed through the chicanes, using all the road but just missing the walls, and unleashed a staggering 1:11.960 - more than eight tenths of a second faster than anyone else.

Turvey and Alguersuari were the only other cars in the 1:12s with the rest of the field well over a second off Hartley's time.

Esteban Guerrieri was an impressive fourth fastest, making another return to Ultimate Motorsport, and will be one to watch at the start of this afternoon's race as he's renowned for his excellent first laps.

Sam Abay made it four Carlin cars in the top five, with Max Chilton producing another strong qualifying performance in sixth. Double R teammates Atte Mustonen and John Martin qualified seventh and eighth, with title hopeful Sergio Perez a disappointing ninth.

Marcus Ericsson will start from the back of the grid after clouting the wall (for the second time this weekend) on his first flying lap of the session. His Fortec Motorsport teammate Philip Major also hit the wall later in the session.

Jay Bridger headed the National Class runners, pipping practice pace-setter Steven Guerrero by a tenth of a second. Recent form man Stefan Wilson was only fifth in class after a spin stranded him at the third chicane.

Pos Driver             Team        Car   Time         Gap
 1. Brendon Hartley    Carlin      D/M   1:11.960
 2. Oliver Turvey      Carlin      D/M   1:12.819  +0.859
 3. Jaime Alguersuari  Carlin      D/M   1:12.913  +0.953
 4. Esteban Guerrieri  Ultimate    M/M   1:13.230  +1.270
 5. Sam Abay           Carlin      D/M   1:13.542  +1.582
 6. Max Chilton        Hitech      D/M   1:13.561  +1.601
 7. Atte Mustonen      Double R    D/M   1:13.669  +1.709
 8. John Martin        Double R    D/M   1:13.717  +1.757
 9. Sergio Perez       T-Sport     D/H   1:13.908  +1.948
10. Walter Grubmuller  Hitech      D/M   1:13.985  +2.025
11. Michael Devaney    Ultimate    M/M   1:14.466  +2.506
12. Oliver Oakes       Eurotek     D/M   1:14.526  +2.566
13. Henry Arundel      Double R    D/M   1:14.778  +2.818
14. Jay Bridger        Fluid (N)   D/H   1:15.031  +3.071
15. Steven Guerrero    T-Sport (N) D/H   1:15.157  +3.197
16. Ricardo Teixeira   Ultimate    M/M   1:15.269  +3.309
17. Hywel Lloyd        CF (N)      D/H   1:15.276  +3.316
18. Salman Al-Khalifa  T-Sport (N) D/H   1:15.592  +3.632
19. Stefan Wilson      Fluid (N)   D/H   1:16.750  +4.790
20. Philip Major       Fortec      D/M   1:17.064  +5.104
21. Kristjan Einar     Carlin (N)  D/H   1:17.098  +5.138
22. Marcus Ericsson    Fortec      D/M   no time

D/M = Dallara Mercedes, M/M = Mygale Mercedes, D/H = Dallara Mugen-Honda