Fortune favours Rossiter...

James Rossiter (Pons Racing) will line up in pole position for the second World Series Formula Renault 3.5 race. Eric Salignon (Interwetten.com) will join him on the front row. Many drivers span off, caught out by the tricky track conditions.

For safety reasons, the qualifying system was altered for this session. The thirty drivers were split into two groups (odd and even numbers). Each group had 15 minutes of track time and an unlimited number of permitted laps. Pole position was awarded to the quickest driver from the two sessions. James Rossiter’s group will all line up behind him on the start grid. The group led by Eric Salignon will be on the other side of the grid, behind him.

The drivers with even race numbers were the first to head out onto to a very wet track. With only two minutes of the session gone, Alessandro Bonetti (Jenzer Motorsport) span and ended up in the gravel trap.

Eric Salignon (Interwetten.com) took control, immediately going to the top of the timing screens in front of Enrico Toccacelo (Eurointernational) and Alx Danielsson (Comtec Racing). Danielsson then grabbed the best time before then making a mess of his attempt to improve his time further.

The track was becoming quicker and quicker, enabling Eric Salignon, Enrico Toccacelo and Garcia (RC Motorsport) to all move back to the top. In the last two minutes, Toccacelo made one final attempt to take pole. The Italian improved in the first sector but he then committed several minor mistakes in the second sector and missed out as a result.

Pastor Maldonado (Draco Multiracing USA) hit his peak just in time to take 3rd position in the dying seconds of the session. He moved ahead of Garcia and Kane (Epsilon Euskadi).

Just like Bonetti in group A, Colin Fleming (Carlin Motorsport) crashed off the track on his very first flying lap. As the stewards were trying to get Fleming’s car back onto the track, Alvaro Parente made a mistake, ran off the track and into the two stewards. Fortunately, the car was slowing down, allowing them to escape uninjured.

When the session resumed, it was the turn of Hayanari Shimoda (Victory Engineering) to crash off at the Gilles Villeneuve chicane. Sean McIntosh (KTR) made the same mistake, and ran into the Japanese driver’s car. Pascal Kochem (Eurointernational) also took the scenic route through the gravel, but he was able to scramble out and continue on his way. A few hundred metres further on, Andy Soucek (Interwetten.com) also ended up in the gravel trap at the hairpin!

The session was then interrupted by yet another red flag. At the restart, the drivers were finally able to complete a full lap. James Rossiter (Pons Racing) set the best time, but he was quickly dislodged by Andy Soucek. As the session came to a close, the qualifying order was shaken up as James Rossiter grabbed pole with a time of 1’33’’454. He was followed by Soucek, Kochem, Valsecchi and Pavlovic.