Hulkenberg takes another pole

Hulkenberg's scintillating final run of 1:17.520 proved to be the fastest lap of the weekend and gave the German his third pole in a row. He edged out New Zealand's A1 comeback star Matt Halliday, who was under pressure to live up to the standards set by Jonny Reid this season.

Halliday did so brilliantly and looked to have secured pole with a 1:17.820 on his final run, having set what had been the fastest lap of the weekend, a 1:17.731, in session three.

"I got traffic at the first corner in my final run, so I could have been on pole with a clear lap, but that's motor racing," said Halliday.

A rogue red flag stopped the final session just as Hulkenberg finished his lap, which looked to have left Friday practice pacesetter Team France out of luck. But the final seven and a half minutes were saved and run, allowing Loic Duval a shot at pole. But he could only manage a time good enough to leave him third on the grid.

Switzerland's Neel Jani, another making a return to the series after missing the last two races through injury, set a two-lap average good enough for fourth over the four sessions, ahead of Mexico's Salvador Duran.

Ireland's Richard Lyons did well to qualify seventh after stuffing his car into the wall towards the end of morning practice, leaving his mechanics with a rapid rebuild job during lunch time.

Alvaro Parente continued to make this a strong comeback weekend for Team Portugal in eighth, ahead of home nation South Africa.

Britain's Robbie Kerr saved a disastrous session with a solid final run to take the 11th spot on the grid.

Qualifying times:

Pos  Driver               Team                Time
 1.  Nico Hulkenberg      Germany         2:35.404
 2.  Matthew Halliday     New Zealand     2:35.551  +  0.147
 3.  Loic Duval           France          2:35.585  +  0.181
 4.  Neel Jani            Switzerland     2:36.240  +  0.836
 5.  Jeroen Bleekemolen   Netherlands     2:36.379  +  0.975
 6.  Salvador Duran       Mexico          2:36.399  +  0.995
 7.  Richard Lyons        Ireland         2:36.409  +  1.005
 8.  Alvaro Parente       Portugal        2:36.590  +  1.186
 9.  Adrian Zaugg         South Africa    2:36.718  +  1.314
10.  Ananda Mikola        Indonesia       2:37.016  +  1.612
11.  Robbie Kerr          Great Britain   2:37.095  +  1.691
12.  Jonathan Summerton   USA             2:37.188  +  1.784
13.  Enrico Toccacelo     Italy           2:37.289  +  1.885
14.  Tomas Enge           Czech Republic  2:37.468  +  2.064
15.  Ho-Pin Tung          China           2:37.570  +  2.166
16.  Karl Reindler        Australia       2:37.600  +  2.196
17.  Alex Yoong           Malaysia        2:37.639  +  2.235
18.  Bruno Junqueira      Brazil          2:37.709  +  2.305
19.  Allam Khodair        Lebanon         2:38.177  +  2.773
20.  James Hinchcliffe    Canada          2:38.693  +  3.289
21.  Narain Karthikeyan   India           2:38.976  +  3.572
22.  Christian Murchison  Singapore       2:40.238  +  4.834
23.  Nur Ali              Pakistan        2:48.187  + 12.783