In the morning 30 minute Free Practice session both of the Racing Engineering drivers were on the pace. Held in hot but cloudy conditions the session was red-flagged twice due to cars stranded on the track and the second incident left only 3 minutes of track time for the drivers to push for their fastest time on new tyres. At the end of the hard fought session Dani Clos was an excellent 6th, just six tenths of a second away from the fastest time. The returning Christian Vietoris, getting used to driving a GP2 car after having to miss the last two rounds, was 10th fastest, four tenths of a second behind his Spanish team-mate.

Qualifying was the expected very competitive session with the fastest 12 drivers separate by less than eight tenths of a second. For the whole session Clos was amongst the fastest runners, continually setting very quick lap times whilst his German team-mate concentrated on getting comfortable in his chassis and setting it up to his personal driving style. At the end of the 30 minutes Clos had set the 7th fastest time with a lap of 1m 47.041s, four tenths slower than the pole position lap whilst Vietoris will start from 15th with a lap of 1m 47.875s.

Dani Clos: “This was an intense qualifying session influenced by the red and yellow flags. In the morning the car felt really good and it was the same in qualifying. The only problem was to put all the sectors together on the same lap. But 7th position on the starting grid is not that bad, especially taking into consideration that I am only some 3 tenths off the fastest. Without having to quit my fast laps due to red flags or other cars, I think we could have been in the top 3. We have the potential and tomorrow we will see who will be the best at managing the tyres.”

Christian Vietoris:  “The day started well with free practice in the morning, where I was in a good position straight away. I do not know what happened in qualifying, but I was too slow. It's too early to say why as we will still looking into it. For tomorrow's race I will try to finish it in the top 8.”

Thomas Couyotopoulo - Racing Engineering’s Sporting Manager:  “Today's qualifying was affected by the red flags, just like free practice in the morning. The overall results are slightly disappointing, but Dani was a victim of the red flags when he was on fast laps. He improved his sector times and I am sure he would have made it to the second row on the grid without red flags stopping his runs. Chris is back at the wheel of a GP2 car after quite a while and for sure needs to get back into it now. It's a pity as I think he could have the potential to be quick here. We will now prepare for tomorrow's race in the best way possible. I would also like to thank our mechanics and engineers for having done such a good job today.”