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Molina takes pole at Estoril

Miguel Molina has qualified on pole-position for the penultimate round of the Formula Renault 3.5 series at Estoril

The 19 year-old Prema driver was a comfortable two tenths of a second ahead of Tech 1's French line-up, Julien Jousse and Charles Pic.

Carlin's Robert Wickens and Ultimate-Signature's Fabio Carbone set an identical time of 1:25.987 for fourth. Wickens will take the position due to being the first to record the time.

Molina will be shooting for a repeat of his 2007 win, achieved with Pons Racing, in tomorrow's feature race. The four points won today for pole moves Molina from eighth to sixth in the championship.

"I tried to use only one set of tyres in qualifying, so that I could enter the Super Pole with one new set in hand," said Molina. "But with three minutes remaining I was in P6 (and just one place away from being bumped from the Super Pole), so I had to go out again.

"I had just enough time for one lap and that got me through. Super Pole was very difficult, and I had to dig really deep to do pole-position, but this track has been good to me again. I have had two thirds here is Spanish F3 and, of course, winning last year. I could really use a win tomorrow as I have no plans finalised for next year."

Jousse was philosophical about being beaten to the pole, as he has closed by two points on Fabio Carbone, his rival for the runner-up position in the championship.

"Yesterday I thought I could have been on pole, but Molina was too fast today. He's almost three tenths quicker which is a lot around here. Anyway, I am happy to score points on Carbone, and from second there is still a good possibility that I can get my first win tomorrow."

Alex Marsoin's Epsilon-Euskadi machine was unable to take part in the Super Pole after sustaining severe damage in qualifying. Fortunately Marsoin did not have any major injuries to show for the shunt.

"I just have a few pains in my back," said Marsoin. "It was a really heavy shunt. The whole front of the car is destroyed but fortunately not the tub. I arrived at turn one with no brakes at all. Not anything.

"The car had been so good, and we had just set the second fastest time. Having Filipe (Albuquerque) here really makes a difference as we have been able to work together. It was a big, big shame. I really think we could have made a good job in the Super Pole."

Marco Bonanomi, in eighth, will line-up on the reverse grid "pole" for Comtec in this afternoon's race, with Draco's Bertrand Baguette joining the Italian on the front row.

Super-pole results:

Pos  Driver           Team                Time
 1.  Miguel Molina    Prema Powerteam     1:25.728
 2.  Julien Jousse    Tech 1 Racing       1:25.941 + 0.213
 3.  Charles Pic      Tech 1 Racing       1:25.962 + 0.234
 4.  Robert Wickens   Carlin Motorsport   1:25.987 + 0.259
 5.  Fabio Carbone    Ultimate Signature  1:25.987 + 0.259
 6.  Marcos Martinez  Pons Racing         1:26.211 + 0.483
 7.  B.Baguette       Draco Racing        1:26.227 + 0.499
 8.  Marco Bonanomi   Comtec              1:26.239 + 0.511
 9.  Alvaro Barba     Prema Powerteam     1:26.270 + 0.542
10.  E.Guerrieri      Ultimate Signature  1:26.462 + 0.734
11.  Marco Barba      Draco Racing        1:26.717 + 0.989

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