Jerez FR3.5: Roberto Merhi pole boosts bid for runner-up spot

The Spaniard, whose title hopes were dashed by a first corner crash in race one on Saturday, moved to the top of the times with two minutes remaining.

While his rivals were unable to beat his time, Merhi was one of the few drivers able to drag another quick lap out of his tyres, improving his benchmark by another tenth of a second as the chequered flag came out.

It marked a big turnaround in fortunes for the Zeta Corse driver, who admitted that his team "started from zero" on Saturday morning after making some fundamental errors with his car during Friday practice.

Race one runner-up Oliver Rowland, who was the pacesetter during the first runs of the session, had to settle for second on the grid again, just ahead of Merhi's main rival in the points race, Pierre Gasly.

Gasly salvaged third place despite suffering a huge lock-up to his right-front wheel on the first flying lap of his final run. The Frenchman trails Merhi by three points in the standings.

Behind the three regular frontrunners, Nicholas Latifi took a surprise fourth on the grid, having opted to race in FR3.5 this weekend instead of contesting the finale of the Formula 3 European championship at Hockenheim.

The two drivers with the most to celebrate on Saturday - race winner Will Stevens and new champion Sainz - both had a disappointing session, and they will share the seventh row for the last race of the season.