Maiden A1 pole for Simpson

The 22-year-old, whose best previous qualifying performance was ninth in Indonesia, was the final driver to cross the line in the fourth and final 15-minute session. His effort combined with his second run to give him the best two-lap aggregate by a full second over Frenchman Alexandre Premat and Switzerland's Neel Jani.

The teams took their time to send out their drivers for the first runs in the opening 15-minute session. Early times showed that the track was much slower than it had been in the morning practice session.

But at he end of the first quarter, those who had bided their time got their reward.

In the final minute Great Britain's Robbie Kerr crossed the line in 1:25.493 to take pole, but it was short lived. Jani shaved eight hundredths off that mark to go top, but the star of the session was Premat.

The Team France ace cut the timing beam in 1:24.908, a massive half a second up on Jani. Seconds later Simpson split France and Switzerland - but at this stage he was four tenths off Premat.

The track was certainly faster in the second 15-minute session.

Kerr set the benchmark with a 1:24.563 giving him the aggregate pole with a minute and a half to go. But at the halfway mark he had dropped to fifth, bumped down a place by Ireland's Ralph Firman.

Predictably, Premat jumped to the top of the aggregate times, but seconds later he was third: first Jani took aggregate pole with 1:23.442, then Simpson put in a superb 1:22.817 to jump both of them. The story of qualifying had been turned on its head.

Team France gambled on a change of tactics for the third run - and it didn't work. Premat was sent out early, crossing the line with nine of the 15 minutes still to go. His lap put him back on aggregate pole, but at the three-quarters stage he would find himself back in fifth.

The big movers were Christian Fittipaldi, jumping from seventh to fourth, and Ralph Firman who gained another place to go third.

The loser at this stage was Kerr, another to go for an early third run. He dropped to eighth behind Jos Verstappen and Tomas Enge.

Jani consolidated his second position, but it was the flying Simpson who remained on top. After three runs, his two best times gave him an aggregate advantage of almost a full second.

It all came down to the final three drivers crossing the line in the final quarter.

Premat's lap jumped him back up to pole, Jani failed to beat the Frenchman's mark - and so it was all down to Simpson. His lap of 1:22.078 was the best of the weekend and emphatically confirmed his first pole.

Enrico Toccacelo was a surprise best-of-the-rest in fourth, the Team Italy driver jumping up from ninth with his final run, while Team USA's Bryan Herta was another to leap up the order, from 10th to fifth.

Kerr was left hugely disappointed. Having figured at the sharp end for his first two runs, his aggregate left him just 15th.