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Porto's Parente takes Beijing pole

Despite missing the previous round due to visa paperwork issues, Alvaro Parente finally made it to China to set Superleague Formula pole position at the new Beijing International street circuit for FC Porto

In the single-lap, head-to-head shootout final, Parente lapped in 1m05.287s to beat Craig Dolby of Tottenham Hotspur by 0.215 seconds.

Parente had outpaced Robert Doornbos (Corinthians) by exactly four tenths of a second in the first semi-final to make it through to the pole shoot-out. The second semi saw Dolby defeat Roma's Julien Jousse by six tenths after impressively dipping into the 1m04s bracket.

In the quarter-finals, Parente outpaced series returnee Paul Meijer (Atletico Madrid) by a quarter of a second. Doornbos got an easy path to the semis when he was paired against Andy Soucek, who was unable to take part due to a big crash in his group session. After setting a fast enough time to progress already, Soucek clipped the tyre wall as he entered final quick chicane, from where he was a passenger as his Flamengo car ploughed into the wall on the pits straight.

Jousse defeated Franck Perera (Bordeaux) by just over a tenth of a second in the tense all-French clash that followed in the next quarter, while Dolby easily beat Tristan Gommendy (Lyon) by the much larger margin of almost a second in the other quarter-final.

Earlier, Dolby was fastest in Group A, ahead of Soucek - whose crash stopped the session early. Those to be knocked out at this stage were Giacomo Ricci (Galatasaray), Yelmer Buurman (AC Milan), Ben Hanley (Olympiacos), Frederic Vervisch (Liverpool), John Martin (Beijing Guoan) and Ordos hero Earl Bamber (PSV Eindhoven).

In Group B, there was also a red flag early on. Parente set the pace, and those to drop out included Marcos Martinez (Sevilla), who was squeezed out at the very last moment by just 0.032s. Also out were reigning champion Adrian Valles (Sporting Lisbon), points leader Davide Rigon (Anderlecht), expected frontrunner Max Wissel (Basel) and Team China's Ma Qing Hua.

Sunday's races will be non-championship affairs. The threatened drivers' strike was resolved when a dispute with the race's promoters was settled this morning.

Pos  Driver             Team                        Time
 1.  Alvaro Parente     FC Porto                    1m05.287s
 2.  Craig Dolby        Tottenham Hotspur           1m05.502s
 3.  Julien Jousse      AS Roma                     1m05.606s
 4.  Robert Doornbos    Corinthians                 1m05.571s
 5.  Franck Perera      Girondins de Bordeaux       1m05.909s
 6.  Tristan Gommendy   Olympique Lyonnais          1m06.521s
 7.  Paul Meijer        Atletico de Madrid          1m06.186s
 8.  Marcos Martinez    Sevilla FC                  1m05.686s
 9.  Giacomo Ricci      Galatasaray                 1m06.110s
10.  Adrian Valles      Sporting Clube de Portugal  1m05.888s
11.  Yelmer Buurman     AC Milan                    1m06.197s
12.  Davide Rigon       RSC Anderlecht              1m06.025s
13.  Ben Hanley         Olympiacos                  1m06.412s
14.  Max Wissel         FC Basel                    1m06.097s
15.  Andy Soucek        Flamengo
16.  Frederic Vervisch  Liverpool FC                1m06.426s
17.  Ma Qing Hua        Team China
18.  John Martin        Beijing Guoan               1m06.510s
19.  Earl Bamber        PSV Eindhoven               1m06.855s

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