From hero to zero for Lopez.

Having started from pole position in France, Jose Maria Lopez will be starting the German round of the GP2 Series from the other extreme when a crash early on prevented him from setting a meaningful time.

Third quickest after free practice, Lopez's Super Nova team were left with plenty of work to do prior to qualifying when he suffered a small water leak. However, the team repaired the car and sent Lopez on his way for qualifying.

However, when the Argentine got too close to one of the Piquet Sports cars, Lopez got out of shape, culminating in him spinning off and hitting the barriers, ending his day and leaving him down in 25th place.

"I'm obviously very frustrated," Lopez said. "It is going to be a very tough weekend. I would like to say a big thank you and well done to the boys in the team for working so hard and fast to get me out again this afternoon!"

Team principal David Sears was also disappointed that the highs of France have not carried through to Germany.

"After a pole position at the last race in France 2 weeks ago, Super Nova Team were looking for the same again in Germany, Hockenheim. In the morning un-timed session Jose Maria Lopez was in third place, but in qualifying he got too close to another car on his first flying lap, went off, hitting the wall. So he has to start on the back row tomorrow."

Fairuz Fauzy meanwhile claimed his best starting position of the year in 17th place, but insists he could have gone faster had he not been held up by traffic.

"The car feels a lot better! Unfortunately I got held up on my first and second set. However I improved by 2/10th second on my 2nd set, which is positive. We are going in the right direction for tomorrows race!"