The Racing Engineering star lapped the new European Grand Prix venue in 1:45.640, grabbing the top spot away from renowned street circuit expert Pastor Maldonado in the dying seconds of the session.
It was a thrilling duel for pole because the circuit gave up more and more grip as the session unfolded. Pantano set the early pace with a 1:46.228, but Romain Grosjean topped that with a 1:46.010 with seven minutes remaining.
Pantano took it back with a 1:45.757, only for Maldonado to hit the top spot with a 1:45.711 with just 90 seconds remaining on the clock. But Pantano wasn't to be denied his two points and with 45 seconds to go he unleashed his 1:45.640, which nobody was able to beat.
Maldonado will start second for Piquet Sports, not a bad effort considering he crashed in free practice, ahead of Campos driver Vitaly Petrov. Grosjean (ART) slipped to fourth, not helped when Adrian Valles ruined his last lap quite comprehensively, while Andi Zuber could only manage fifth in the second Piquet-run car.
Jerome d'Ambrosio will start sixth for DAMS, ahead of Sebastien Buemi (Arden), Bruno Senna (iSport), Mike Conway (Trident) and Luca Filippi (Arden).
Senna also had one of his best laps ruined by Valles, and will have a lot of work to do from seven places behind the man he needs to topple if he's to win the title. He has now slipped nine points behind Pantano in the title race.
His teammate Karun Chandhok, who was third in free practice, could only recover to 12th position after a spin at Turn Five. That treacherous corner also claimed Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS), who smote the wall and removed two corners from his car. He was unhurt, but the session had to be stopped while his car was removed.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Giorgio Pantano Racing Engineering 1:45.640 2. Pastor Maldonado Piquet Sports 1:45.711 +0.071 3. Vitaly Petrov Campos 1:45.802 +0.162 4. Romain Grosjean ART 1:46.010 +0.370 5. Andi Zuber Piquet Sports 1:46.090 +0.450 6. Jerome d'Ambrosio DAMS 1:46.254 +0.614 7. Sebastien Buemi Arden 1:46.372 +0.732 8. Bruno Senna iSport 1:46.529 +0.889 9. Mike Conway Trident 1:46.592 +0.952 10. Luca Filippi Arden 1:46.603 +0.963 11. Lucas di Grassi Campos 1:46.607 +0.967 12. Karun Chandhok iSport 1:46.657 +1.017 13. Álvaro Parente Super Nova 1:46.763 +1.123 14. Javier Villa Racing Engineering 1:46.813 +1.173 15. Andy Soucek Super Nova 1:46.949 +1.309 16. Adrian Valles BCN 1:47.102 +1.462 17. Roldan Rodriguez FMS 1:47.269 +1.629 18. Sakon Yamamoto ART 1:47.270 +1.630 19. Davide Valsecchi Durango 1:47.374 +1.734 20. Diego Nunes DPR 1:47.756 +2.116 21. Marko Asmer FMS 1:47.854 +2.214 22. Ho-Pin Tung Trident 1:48.030 +2.390 23. Alberto Valerio Durango 1:48.179 +2.539 24. Carlos Iaconelli BCN 1:48.249 +2.609 25. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 1:48.469 +2.829 26. Michael Herck DPR 1:48.620 +2.980
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