iSport International - Davide Valsecchi (Pole) Oliver Turvey (18th)

iSport racer Davide Valsecchi stormed to his first ever pole position today in qualifying at the new Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. With the track still dusty and with little rubber laid down so far Valsecchi was never topped as he dominated the session in impressive fashion. iSport and GP2 newcomer Oliver Turvey has had very little running on the Yas Marina Circuit due to missing the two day test last week to compete in his final race in World Series by Renault 3.5, so he had his work cut out today. Oliver has been steadily improving with each lap and finished qualifying only nine tenths behind his team mate on pole but back in eighteenth in a very tight field.

Davide Valsecchi: "I have to say thank you to the team for the car. I am really happy because I made my first pole position ever; it's my best moment in my career. I guess we were one or two tenths (ahead) because the car was perfect. I feel really confident with the team from the first time in the test to now in qualifying so I'm really happy".

Oliver Turvey: "I've had very little time on the track so I have been getting used to the car and it's quite different from the GP2 Main Series car. I've only had a few laps really and I think that has been the main problem in qualifying but it is a little bit disappointing not to be further up. It was a very close qualifying I think I was only nine tenths off pole and I was eighteenth so it's a little bit disappointing. Hopefully tomorrow we can move forward and I'm pretty confident we will get stronger as the weekend goes on and hopefully we can get into the top eight tomorrow".

Ocean Racing Technology - Fabio Leimer (3rd) Alexander Rossi (13th)

The Ocean Racing Technology entry in this year's GP2 Asia Series Championship is a very promising one with Fabio Leimer recording the 3rd best time in the opening qualifying session on the new Abu Dhabi circuit. The Swiss racer was a mere two tenths of a second off the time recorded by the driver who secured pole position. "This is very good! The track was very slippery during the practice session but the conditions were much better for qualifying. We found a good pace and on Saturday my aim will be to have a good start and bring back a good result to the team for my first race in the GP2 series," stated the International Formula Masters Champion.

Meanwhile his teammate in Portuguese squad, American driver Alexander Rossi, continued his progression from testing, which had taken place on the Yas Marina circuit last week and he will start his first race in the GP2 Series from the 7th row of the starting grid after worked hard with his engineers in order to find the best set up. Alexander explains what actually prevented him from being up the front with his teammate: "We had some troubles with traction and stability, especially in the third sector where we lost quite a lot of time. Having said that, we are on the right path and in the last part of qualifying we made some good progress that makes us confident for the race. I will start from 13th spot and my target will be to have a good start and gain as many positions as possible," Rossi declared.

Meritus - Luca Filippi (4th) Diego Nunes (17th)

Italian Luca Filippi and Brazil Diego Nunes had a good start to their first day at Yas Marina circuit and finished first practice with best times of 1.55.269 (4th) and 1.55.573 (10th), having completed 11 and 12 laps respectively.

In the qualifying session the two drivers finished in fourth (Luca Filippi) and 17th (Diego Nunes). Filippi stopped a few minutes before the end of the session suffering from a gearbox problem. It was a pity because Filippi had set the fastest times in testing last weekend at Yas Marina and looked to have a good chance of taking pole. But his chance ended as a gearbox problem caused the car to stop at turn 19. Meanwhile Diego Nunes got stuck in traffic. Between that and yellow flags caused by other drivers spinning, he could not get a clean fast lap in.

Luca Filippi: "We familiarised ourselves with this track during the tests last week where we were strong. I was very motivated when I arrived for qualifying. We used the track time this morning for some more fine tuning. After the first 30-minute run this morning I must say that I quite like this circuit, but what really counts is qualifying. I liked this session even if it is a bit disappointing not to have been able to do a better qualifying lap because of the gearbox problem that ruined my hopes of taking pole. But fourth place is not bad. I feel lucky to have had one clear lap to set my time. It takes guts here, but I did it. The team still has time to fine tune the car for the first race tomorrow."

Diego Nunes: "I was pleased in the morning with a good session even though I don't yet really know the limits of the car so it was hard to push at the right moment. The first session was a real experience on such a huge scale track which offers a mixture of very different corners. The qualifying result is disappointing of course, but I am hopeful for the race given our good set up and pace.

Trident Racing - Johnny Cecotto (8th) Plamen Kralev (24th)