Munoz heads first Pau qualifying

Munoz is one of the few entrants with experience of the track, having scored a pair of podiums in the Formula Renault 2.0 WEC's visit to the circuit in 2009.

In a reverse of yesterday's free practice results, the Colombian had the edge on team-mate Marco Wittmann. Munoz moved to the top with just under a third of the half-hour session remaining, before progressively working down to a time of 1m11.052s

The session was extremely closely contested, with the first three drivers covered by just 0.099 seconds. Championship leader Roberto Merhi [Prema] ended the morning as the first of the Mercedes-powered runners in third.

"Since the first of this season's FIA International Trophy races, the team has a better understanding of this new compound of Yokohama," said Wittmann, explaining Signature's return to form. "I am also not sure what improvements Mercedes made over the winter, but things seem much better here.

"Even though the team has a good record at this circuit, it's only my first time here, whereas my team-mate Carlos Munoz has raced here in Formula Renault a few years ago, but I feel happy with the car."

Daniel Abt made it three Signature cars in the top four, ahead of Merhi's Prema Powerteam team-mate Daniel Juncadella. Double R's Pipo Derani was the leading British series regular in sixth.

Experienced Belgian Laurens Vanthoor was seventh, recovering from a Friday disrupted by engine problems. Oil from the incident caught out an unfortunate Marko Asmer yesterday, but the former British Formula 3 champion had a less eventful run to eighth this morning.

"[In free practice] I was on my in-lap, doing 30-40km/h less than usual when I hit the oil from a Signature car," said Asmer. "There were no warning flags that I could see."

German Formula 3 champion Tom Dillmann led the session at the mid-way point before encountering trouble at Turn 4. The Frenchman's Motopark car was craned off track.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car               Time       Gap
 1.  Carlos Munoz       Signature Dallara-VW   1m11.052s
 2.  Marco Wittmann     Signature Dallara-VW   1m11.097s  + 0.045s
 3.  Roberto Merhi      Prema Dallara-Merc     1m11.151s  + 0.099s
 4.  Daniel Abt         Signature Dallara-VW   1m11.287s  + 0.235s
 5.  Laurens Vanthoor   Signature Dallara-VW   1m11.297s  + 0.245s
 6.  Daniel Juncadella  Prema Dallara-Merc     1m11.438s  + 0.386s
 7.  Pipo Derani        Double R Dallara-Merc  1m11.471s  + 0.419s
 8.  Marko Asmer        Double R Dallara-Merc  1m11.784s  + 0.732s
 9.  Tom Dillmann       Motopark Dallara-VW    1m11.951s  + 0.899s
10.  Jazeman Jaafar     Carlin Dallara-VW      1m12.238s  + 1.186s
11.  Kimiya Sato        Motopark Dallara-VW    1m12.272s  + 1.220s
12.  Richard Bradley    Carlin Dallara-VW      1m12.338s  + 1.286s
13.  Carlos Huertas     Carlin Dallara-VW      1m12.384s  + 1.332s