Kubica on provisional Macau pole

The Carlin Motorsport driver had to come into the pits early in the first qualifying session to make radical alterations to the set-up of his car after going the wrong way in the morning's free practice session. His team also needed to make modifications to his seat after he felt it moving around in the cockpit.

But despite those dramas, Kubica steadily moved up the timesheets over the 45-minute session and grabbed the top spot with just more than one minute of qualifying remaining. He eventually edged out Brazilian Lucas di Grassi and Frenchman Loic Duval.

"We had to change the set-up completely, so I had to stop to make sure we were back in the right direction," said Kubica. "The car was better but we can still improve. And although the team tried to fix my seat, it was still moving around a bit in the car so we will have to sort that. But I'm happy, although it's more important to be on pole position tomorrow."

Di Grassi, who had been on the pole spot for the final 10 minutes of the session before being pipped by Kubica, was unable to respond to his rival's efforts after losing time when he encountered traffic. But he was still pretty pleased with the feel of his car.

"There was far too much traffic," said the Manor Motorsport driver. "I could not match the best potential from my tyres with getting a clean lap, but I am pretty pleased to have done two laps very close together in the 2m13s. That makes me confident for tomorrow."

Duval had been the early pace setter but eventually slipped down to third, while Fabio Carbone put in a late effort to take a provisional fourth place on the grid - one slot ahead of Naoki Yokomizo. Danny Watts was sixth with Joao Paulo de Oliveira seventh and Mike Conway eighth.

Sebastian Vettel, who had been a sensational third fastest in the morning free practice session, was baffled about his lack of pace in qualifying as he ended up 12 th, while morning pace setter Paolo Montin was a lowly 14th after stopping with mechanical problems. Cheong Lou Meng damaged the front of his car after crashing out early in the session.

Pos  Driver              Make-Engine             Time      Laps
 1.  Robert Kubica       Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB  2:12.754   16
 2.  Lucas Di Grassi     Dallara Mercedes-HWA    +  0.327   17
 3.  Loic Duval          Dallara Mercedes-HWA    +  0.360   16
 4.  Fabio Carbone       SLC Opel-Spiess         +  0.552   16
 5.  Naoki Yokomizo      Dallara Nissan-Tomei    +  1.076   15
 6.  Danny Watts         Dallara Toyota-Tom's    +  1.312   16
 7.  Joao P De Oliveira  Dallara Toyota-Tom's    +  1.492   16
 8.  Mike Conway         Dallara Mercedes-HWA    +  1.668   16
 9.  Kohei Hirate        Dallara Opel-Spiess     +  1.837   16
10.  Franck Perera       Dallara Opel-Spiess     +  1.911   13
11.  Kazuki Nakajima     Dallara Toyota-Tom's    +  1.947    8
12.  Sebastian Vettel    Dallara Mercedes-HWA    +  2.046   17
13.  Romain Grosjean     Dallara Opel-Spiess     +  2.093   19
14.  Paolo Montin        Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB  +  2.176   13
15.  Christian Bakkerud  Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB  +  2.198   17
16.  Guillaume Moreau    Dallara Opel-Spiess     +  2.283   18
17.  Bruno Senna         Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB  +  2.766   18
18.  Daisuke Ikeda       Dallara Toyota-Tom's    +  3.267   17
19.  Charlie Kimball     Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB  +  3.428   14
20.  Karl Reindler       Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB  +  3.573   19
21.  Taku Bamba          Dallara Toyota-Tom's    +  3.798   12
22.  Dan Clarke          Dallara Opel-Spiess     +  4.371   16
23.  Fillip Salaquarda   Dallara Opel-Spiess     +  4.834   16
24.  Rodolfo Avila       Dallara Mercedes HWA    +  5.093   16
25.  Michael Ho          Dallara Toyota-Tom's    +  5.908   14
26.  Stephen Jelley      Dallara Opel-Spiess     +  5.946   18
27.  Lei Kit Meng        Dallara Opel-Spiess     +  9.743   18
28.  Jo Merszei          Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB  + 11.423   11
29.  Cheong Lou Meng     Dallara Honda-Mugen/NB  + 11.834    4
30.  Steven Kane         Lola Honda-Mugen/NB     + 13.655    5