Stoneman clinches pole at Brno

The title contender rose to the top of the timesheet with around five minutes to go, during a flurry of action as laptimes improved and four drivers had a turn at the top spot.

After Jolyon Palmer and Sergei Afanasiev's times had been bettered, Stoneman led with a 1m46.0s, but Nicola de Marco - who started from pole here last season - snatched it away when he broke into the 1m45s.

Stoneman responded shortly afterwards to set a 1m45.5s and De Marco's retaliation came immediately, but he was left an agonising half a tenth shy. His next effort ended with equal frustration when he spun at Turn 4.

Afanasiev, Benjamin Bailly and Palmer will start today's race third, fourth and fifth. All three had set personal best first sectors with one minute remaining, but Natalia Kowalska's spin into the gravel at Turn 7 denied them all the chance to improve.

Philipp Eng completes the third row ahead of Kelvin Snoeks, who was just once place behind his best qualifying of the year despite still recovering from a scooter accident in which he broke his ankle.

Tom Gladdis, Ricardo Teixeira and Will Bratt rounded out the top 10.

Pos Driver                   Time          Gap
 1. Dean Stoneman            1m45.597s
 2. Nicola de Marco          1m45.642s  +0.045
 3. Sergei Afanasiev         1m45.921s  +0.324
 4. Benjamin Bailly          1m46.102s  +0.505
 5. Jolyon Palmer            1m46.142s  +0.545
 6. Philipp Eng              1m46.212s  +0.615
 7. Kelvin Snoeks            1m46.273s  +0.676
 8. Tom Gladdis              1m46.308s  +0.711
 9. Ricardo Teixeira         1m46.611s  +1.014
10. Will Bratt               1m46.612s  +1.015
11. Mihai Marinescu          1m46.626s  +1.029
12. Jack Clarke              1m46.709s  +1.112
13. Benjamin Lariche         1m46.773s  +1.176
14. Armaan Ebrahim           1m46.812s  +1.215
15. Kazim Vasiliauskas       1m46.925s  +1.328
16. Natalia Kowalska         1m46.964s  +1.367
17. Ivan Samarin             1m46.984s  +1.387
18. Julian Theobald          1m47.670s  +2.073
19. Plamen Kralev            1m48.135s  +2.538