Pic powers to pole

Charles Pic won the lottery in a dramatic wet qualifying session this afternoon at the Hockenheimring, coming out on top in a last minute shoot out ahead of Series leader Pastor Maldonado and Oliver Turvey.

The Frenchman’s best lap of 1:41.638 in what was effectively a one lap dash after a late session red flag put him on pole by just two tenths in a tense session which saw plenty of thrills and spills as the field tried to tame the treacherous conditions.

With most of the field tiptoeing for a lap before returning to fit wet weather tyres it was Romain Grosjean and Dani Clos who set the early running, with Christian Vietoris and Max Chilton keeping the pair honest around the slippery circuit which saw a few early spins and wide lines in the awkward conditions.

The Briton was third on the timesheets and looking for more when span and stopped on the main straight, prompting a first red flag.

Maldonado stepped up to P2 after the restart and a few minutes later Adrian Zaugg crossed the line to put himself P1. Meanwhile, Davide Valsecchi ran wide to avoid a slow Michael Herck forcing a spin on the grass at the back of the circuit and Sam Bird also found the barriers, prompting another red flag period.

With five minutes to go it was time for a shoot out, it was Pic who picked up the bonus points in a dramatic last lap dash for the flag.

Behind the top three were Sergio Perez, with Zaugg holding on for P5 ahead of Clos, Luiz Razia, Marcus Ericsson, Jules Bianchi and Giedo van der Garde: those who missed out on the lucky dip will be hoping to show what they’ve got in tomorrow’s feature race.