Max Chilton snatches maiden GP2 pole in Hungary

Chilton's Carlin entry was the very last car to cross the finish line at the end of the 30-minute session, and he was the only man to dip below the 1m29s barrier with a stunning 1m28.980s effort. Before that, he had been languishing outside the top 20 for much of the session.

James Calado (Lotus) was second fastest, just 0.023 seconds slower than Chilton's time, but will start fourth due to his two-place penalty for impeding Felipe Nasr during free practice. Calado set his best time much earlier in the session, just past the halfway mark.

Davide Valsecchi will start second for DAMS, missing out on the four points for pole by just 0.054s. Jolyon Palmer set a stunning middle sector time, but lost out in the closing yards in his iSport machine, his fourth-fastest time becoming third thanks to Calado's penalty.

Title contender Luiz Razia will start fifth for Arden, and will be relieved that Valsecchi did not get pole to erode his 10-point lead in the championship.

Giedo van der Garde was sixth, ahead of Esteban Gutierrez, Fabio Leimer, Marcus Ericsson and early pacesetter Johnny Cecotto Jr.

Pos  Driver               Team                Time       Gap
 1.  Max Chilton          Carlin              1m28.980s
 2.  James Calado         Lotus               1m29.003s  + 0.023s
 3.  Davide Valsecchi     DAMS                1m29.034s  + 0.054s
 4.  Jolyon Palmer        iSport              1m29.093s  + 0.113s
 5.  Luiz Razia           Arden               1m29.177s  + 0.197s
 6.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham            1m29.202s  + 0.222s
 7.  Esteban Gutierrez    Lotus               1m29.248s  + 0.268s
 8.  Fabio Leimer         Racing Engineering  1m29.334s  + 0.354s
 9.  Marcus Ericsson      iSport              1m29.345s  + 0.365s
10.  Johnny Cecotto Jr    Addax               1m29.367s  + 0.387s
11.  Josef Kral           Addax               1m29.472s  + 0.492s
12.  Nathanael Berthon    Racing Engineering  1m29.496s  + 0.516s
13.  Felipe Nasr          DAMS                1m29.574s  + 0.594s
14.  Fabio Onidi          Coloni              1m29.637s  + 0.657s
15.  Sergio Canamasas     Lazarus             1m29.666s  + 0.686s
16.  Nigel Melker         Ocean               1m29.717s  + 0.737s
17.  Rio Haryanto         Carlin              1m29.786s  + 0.806s
18.  Victor Guerin        Ocean               1m29.786s  + 0.806s
19.  Stefano Coletti      Coloni              1m29.906s  + 0.926s
20.  Stephane Richelmi    Trident             1m30.027s  + 1.047s
21.  Rodolfo Gonzalez     Caterham            1m30.201s  + 1.221s
22.  Julian Leal          Trident             1m30.202s  + 1.222s
23.  Ricardo Teixeira     Rapax               1m30.475s  + 1.495s
24.  Simon Trummer        Arden               1m30.655s  + 1.675s
25.  Daniel de Jong       Rapax               1m30.930s  + 1.950s
26.  Giancarlo Serenelli  Lazarus             1m33.093s  + 4.113s