Hingham's Team Air Asia took third position in their first GP2 qualifying session in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

Italian Davide Valsecchi will start on the second row in Friday's opening feature race of the 2011 Asia Series – part of Formula One's feeder category – behind the Dams of former champion Romain Grosjean and Jules Bianchi's Group Lotus-backed ART.

'It was not perfect, but I was hoping for a top five finish by the end of qualifying and we finished third so I am very happy,' said Valsecchi. 'We were competitive, the car feels very quick and overall I'm extremely happy with the setup and the effort from the whole team.'

Brake problems saw qualifying cut short for Valsecchi's Brazilian team-mate, Luiz Razia, as he had to settle for 21st on the grid.

Carleton Rode's iSport will start sixth and 11th through Marcus Ericsson and Sam Bird respectively, while Griston's Super Nova Racing endured a fairly torrid afternoon.

Johnny Cecotto qualified 16th, while an earlier coming together with team-mate and current F1 reserve driver Fairuz Fauzy saw the Malaysian handed a 10 grid position penalty for Friday's race, taking him from 23rd to the back of the field.