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Vitaly Petrov snatched pole position in the closing minutes of GP2 qualifying in Portimao ahead of Dani Clos and champion Nico Huelkenberg.

The Russian laid down a time of a minute, 30.819 seconds with just two minutes remaining.

Huelkenberg and Clos crossed the line soon after to move within a tenth but ran out of time as they sought a fraction more on their first visit to the technical new circuit.

Luca Filippi, fastest in morning practice, set the early running as the field enjoyed their first full dry laps then held on to the top spot as the drivers returned to the pits for their second set of tyres.

The Italian's hopes of repeating the performance on his second set were soon dashed when Lucas di Grassi and Roldan Rodriguez broke through as the temperature soared.

With most of the field smashing their previous times as the clock ran down, pole position looked like it could belong to anyone.

Petrov held his nerve for his second consecutive pole position, while recently-crowned champion Huelkenberg will have to make do with a second row start next to Di Grassi and ahead of Davide Valsecchi, Rodriguez, Alberto Valerio and Pastor Maldonado.

Local fans were disappointed by the non-appearance of Alvaro Parente: the Portuguese driver was unable to set a time after suffering a gearbox problem.

Eurosport