Photo: Alastair Staley/GP2 Series Media Service
Monegasque racer Stephane Richelmi led a DAMS 1-2 in the qualifying session for the GP2 Nurburgring round, confidently beating teammate Marcus Ericsson with a mighty lap in the closing stages of the qualifying.
It was the Swede who led the majority of the session, but he eventually found himself unable to match Richelmi’s stunning lap and settled for second. In third, Robin Frijns narrowly beat out fellow 2012 champion Mitch Evans. Felipe Nasr, currently second in the championship, qualified in fifth.
Racing Engineering’s Fabio Leimer took sixth, ahead of Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and James Calado. The two Russian Time cars closed out the top ten, with Sam Bird ahead of Tom Dillmann for row five of race one.
Championship leader Stefano Coletti was only 13th, after making a mistake on his second proper run that ruined his flying lap.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Stephane Richelmi | DAMS | 1:38.487 | 11 | |
| 2 | Marcus Ericsson | DAMS | 1:38.763 | +0.276 | 11 |
| 3 | Robin Frijns | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:38.804 | +0.317 | 12 |
| 4 | Mitchell Evans | Arden International | 1:38.848 | +0.361 | 14 |
| 5 | Felipe Nasr | Carlin | 1:38.897 | +0.410 | 12 |
| 6 | Fabio Leimer | Racing Engineering | 1:38.997 | +0.510 | 11 |
| 7 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | MP Motorsport | 1:39.006 | +0.519 | 12 |
| 8 | James Calado | ART Grand Prix | 1:39.018 | +0.531 | 10 |
| 9 | Sam Bird | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:39.089 | +0.602 | 12 |
| 10 | Tom Dillmann | RUSSIAN TIME | 1:39.186 | +0.699 | 10 |
| 11 | Jolyon Palmer | Carlin | 1:39.193 | +0.706 | 13 |
| 12 | Rene Binder | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:39.243 | +0.756 | 11 |
| 13 | Stefano Coletti | Rapax | 1:39.274 | +0.787 | 13 |
| 14 | Alexander Rossi | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:39.320 | +0.833 | 13 |
| 15 | Fabrizio Crestani | Venezuela GP Lazarus | 1:39.374 | +0.887 | 10 |
| 16 | Jon Lancaster | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:39.379 | +0.892 | 12 |
| 17 | Sergio Canamasas | EQ8 Caterham Racing | 1:39.465 | +0.978 | 13 |
| 18 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport | 1:39.503 | +1.016 | 14 |
| 19 | Johnny Cecotto | Arden International | 1:39.723 | +1.236 | 14 |
| 20 | Rio Haryanto | Barwa Addax Team | 1:39.780 | +1.293 | 12 |
| 21 | Nathanael Berthon | Trident Racing | 1:39.792 | +1.305 | 12 |
| 22 | Daniel Abt | ART Grand Prix | 1:39.813 | +1.326 | 11 |
| 23 | Kevin Ceccon | Trident Racing | 1:39.876 | +1.389 | 12 |
| 24 | Julian Leal | Racing Engineering | 1:39.986 | +1.499 | 14 |
| 25 | Jake Rosenzweig | Barwa Addax Team | 1:40.064 | +1.577 | 12 |
| 26 | Simon Trummer | Rapax | 1:40.311 | +1.824 | 14 |
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