Afanasiev secures first F2 pole

The 22-year-old Russian started on the front row at Monza and Brands Hatch this season but had not clinched a pole until today.

He saw off the challenge of Kazim Vasiliauskas as the pair traded the top spot during their new-tyre runs in the second half of the session.

Afanasiev finished just under a tenth clear at the top, with Vasiliauskas another two tenths ahead of anyone else.

"The tyres were past their best but it was okay because the track was quite cold," said Afanasiev. "I was going really fast when I caught Stoneman so I decided to drop back and do my own laps.... Boom, boom, finito. On this circuit it's very difficult to overtake so it's important to get a good qualifying.

"If you have followed this year you know that my starting is not my best thing, so hopefully tomorrow I will do my best."

The second row of the grid for Saturday's race will be filled by Nicola de Marco and Benjamin Bailly - the pair split by only a couple of hundredths in qualifying.

Championship protagonist Dean Stoneman will start only fifth, but still three places ahead of points leader Jolyon Palmer. Will Bratt and Jack Clarke lie between the pair.

Philipp Eng and Mihai Marinescu round out the top 10, while F2 newcomer Johannes Theobald ended up 17th.

Pos  Driver              Time       Gap
 1.  Sergei Afanasiev    1m20.376s
 2.  Kazim Vasiliauskas  1m20.463s  + 0.087s
 3.  Nicola de Marco     1m20.672s  + 0.296s
 4.  Benjamin Bailly     1m20.698s  + 0.322s
 5.  Dean Stoneman       1m20.784s  + 0.408s
 6.  Will Bratt          1m20.838s  + 0.462s
 7.  Jack Clarke         1m20.871s  + 0.495s
 8.  Jolyon Palmer       1m20.916s  + 0.540s
 9.  Philipp Eng         1m20.957s  + 0.581s
10.  Mihai Marinescu     1m21.041s  + 0.665s
11.  Armaan Ebrahim      1m21.097s  + 0.721s
12.  Kelvin Snoeks       1m21.183s  + 0.807s
13.  Ivan Samarin        1m21.330s  + 0.954s
14.  Ricardo Teixeira    1m21.380s  + 1.004s
15.  Benjamin Lariche    1m21.531s  + 1.155s
16.  Julian Theobald     1m21.620s  + 1.244s
17.  Johannes Theobald   1m21.759s  + 1.383s
18.  Plamen Kralev       1m22.178s  + 1.802s