Marrakech Auto GP: Kevin Giovesi takes maiden pole

The Italian was 0.157 seconds faster than Auto GP debutant Markus Pommer to claim a long-expected maiden series pole.

Giovesi took three front row starts in 2013, at Silverstone, Mugello and Brno, during an impressive second half of the year for Ghinzani.

Pommer set the fastest time in the first segment of Auto GP's revised split qualifying format.

Free practice pacesetter Sergio Campana's final lap, started moments before the chequered flag, hauled the Italian from sixth to third.

Campana will be joined on the second row of Saturday's race by his Zele Racing team-mate Tamas Pal Kiss.

Campos GP2 driver Kimiya Sato starts fifth, ahead of Virtuosi UK's trio of entries. Series returnee Andrea Roda led Slovakian European F3 Open Copa champion Richard Gonda and MRF graduate Sam Dejonghe.

Auto GP has changed its qualifying system for 2014. Last year's single half-hour qualifying session has been replaced by a knock-out format.

Pos  Driver             Team         Time       Gap
 1.  Kevin Giovesi      Eurotech     1m28.873s
 2.  Markus Pommer      Super Nova   1m29.030s  +0.157s
 3.  Sergio Campana     Zele         1m29.358s  +0.485s
 4.  Tamas Pal Kiss     Zele         1m29.438s  +0.565s
 5.  Kimiya Sato        Euronova     1m29.633s  +0.760s
 6.  Andrea Roda        Virtuosi UK  1m29.728s  +0.855s
 7.  Richard Gonda      Virtuosi UK  1m30.429s  +1.556s
 8.  Sam Dejonghe       Virtuosi UK  1m30.558s  +1.685s
 9.  Michela Cerruti    Super Nova   1m30.969s  +2.096s
10.  Michele La rosa    Euronova     1m31.859s  +2.986s
11.  Loris Spinelli     Eurotech     1m32.008s  Q1
12.  Francesco Dracone  Ibiza        1m32.255s  Q1
13.  Giuseppe Cipriani  Ibiza        1m33.105s  Q1