Sam Bird is a happy man: the Brit was quickest in today’s qualification in Spa pocketing his first pole position of the season with a laptime of 1:56.957 set in the first ten minutes of the session. Fabio Leimer and James Calado completed the top 3.
The session opened under blue skies and on a dry track which meant all twenty-six drivers could put their Pirelli Soft tyres to the test of the Belgium track. Johnny Cecotto set the early pace, but Marcus Ericsson bettered the Venezuelan’s time to claim top spot. Calado improved as well and went four tenths quicker than the Swede. It was then Leimer’s turn to go fastest, one tenth better than the Brit.
However, Bird put his head down and found the extra pace to sit pretty at the top of the timing sheet with a laptime two tenths quicker than the Swiss. At the mid-session and as the drivers returned to the pits for a fresh pair of rubbers, Bird, Leimer and Calado were still top three ahead of Alexander Rossi and Jolyon Palmer.
When the action resumed, Leimer improved slightly, but not enough to dethrone Bird who bagged pole at the chequered flag. Calado was unable to better his personal best and remained third. In the final stages of the session, Marcus Ericsson managed to move up to P4 ahead of Rossi. Nathanaël Berthon, Palmer Stéphane Richelmi, Sergio Canmasas (who will be dropped ten places following a grid penalty picked up in Budapest Sprint Race) and Felipe Nasr completed the top ten.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sam Bird | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:56.957 | 9 |
| 2. | Fabio Leimer | Racing Engineering | 1:57.156 | 9 |
| 3. | James Calado | ART Grand Prix | 1:57.404 | 9 |
| 4. | Marcus Ericsson | DAMS | 1:57.538 | 9 |
| 5. | Alexander Rossi | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:57.578 | 11 |
| 6. | Nathanaël Berthon | Trident Racing | 1:57.588 | 10 |
| 7. | Jolyon Palmer | Carlin | 1:57.691 | 9 |
| 8. | Stéphane Richelmi | DAMS | 1:57.802 | 10 |
| 9. | Sergio Canamasas | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:57.804 | 11 |
| 10. | Felipe Nasr | Carlin | 1:57.839 | 10 |
| 11. | Robin Frijns | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:57.881 | 10 |
| 12. | Julian Leal | Racing Engineering | 1:57.924 | 9 |
| 13. | Tom Dillmann | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:57.950 | 10 |
| 14. | Mitch Evans | Arden International | 1:58.271 | 11 |
| 15. | Simon Trummer | Rapax | 1:58.384 | 11 |
| 16. | Dani Clos | MP Motorsport | 1:58.385 | 11 |
| 17. | Johnny Cecotto | Arden International | 1:58.419 | 10 |
| 18. | Rio Hayranto | Barwa Addax Team | 1:58.463 | 10 |
| 19. | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:58.534 | 8 |
| 20. | Stefano Coletti | Rapax | 1:58.618 | 10 |
| 21. | Daniel De Jong | MP Motorsport | 1:58.789 | 9 |
| 22. | Rene Binder | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:58.803 | 10 |
| 23. | Vittorio Ghirelli | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:58.831 | 10 |
| 24. | Daniel Abt | ART Grand Prix | 1:59.022 | 13 |
| 25. | Jake Rosenzweig | Barwa Addax Team | 1:59.253 | 10 |
| 26. | Ricardo Teixeira | Trident Racing | 2:17.528 | 3 |