Roberto Merhi on provisional pole for F3 Masters at Zandvoort

Damage to Merhi's Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes appeared minimal, but with a second decisive qualifying session scheduled for later on Saturday afternoon, there were understandably concerned looks from team manager Rene Rosin as the car was returned to the pits on a flatbed truck.

"The car was much better than [when we came here] in the Euro Series," said Merhi. "I made a mistake on what should have been my best lap so it could have been better. But it's not too bad.

"We need to look forward to the second qualifying session. If it rains again then I am P1, if not then I will have more chances to be on pole again. The car is okay, right at the end of the session I lost downforce behind Felix Rosenqvist, and that's why I went off."

Changeable weather had disrupted both free practice sessions, preventing a clear picture of the relative competitiveness of the drivers emerging before qualifying.

First qualifying was dry, and Prema men Merhi and Daniel Juncadella were in control throughout. The Spaniards were separated by just 0.008s at the finish, both men claiming to have made mistakes on their new tyre runs.

Felix Rosenqvist bounced back from a practice accident to set the third fastest time for Mucke Motorsport.

Carlin's Kevin Magnussen triggered the red flags with a moment at Kumhobocht. Just four minutes remained when the session was restarted and no driver subsequently improved his position.

Juncadella delivered a tough self-appraisal after the session, and refused to get excited over his provisional front row grid position.

"I really want to start on pole as the Masters is a one-off big event," said Juncadella. "If it rains [for second qualifying] then it will be a bit of a shame because I made a mistake on my fastest lap, and that's the reason I couldn't do it.

"I still have another set of new tyres, though. I didn't go out [in the final three minutes] after the red flag because I thought the tyres were already past their peak."

Signature driver Marco Wittmann was the best of the Volkswagen-powered drivers in fourth, ahead of Magnussen - the leading entrant from the British F3 series - and Nigel Melker in the second of the Mucke cars.

Pos  Driver                Team         Car           Time       Gap
 1.  Roberto Merhi         Prema        Dallara-Merc  1m30.750s
 2.  Daniel Juncadella     Prema        Dallara-Merc  1m30.758s  + 0.008s
 3.  Felix Rosenqvist      Mucke        Dallara-Merc  1m31.055s  + 0.305s
 4.  Marco Wittmann        Signature    Dallara-VW    1m31.266s  + 0.516s
 5.  Kevin Magnussen       Carlin       Dallara-VW    1m31.295s  + 0.545s 
 6.  Nigel Melker          Mucke        Dallara-Merc  1m31.411s  + 0.661s
 7.  Laurens Vanthoor      Signature    Dallara-VW    1m31.530s  + 0.780s
 8.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin       Dallara-VW    1m31.599s  + 0.849s
 9.  Daniel Abt            Signature    Dallara-VW    1m31.914s  + 1.164s
10.  Lucas Foresti         Mucke        Dallara-Merc  1m31.933s  + 1.183s
11.  Pipo Derani           Prema        Dallara-Merc  1m32.096s  + 1.346s
12.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin       Dallara-VW    1m32.123s  + 1.373s
13.  Carlos Munoz          Signature    Dallara-VW    1m32.315s  + 1.565s
14.  Jimmy Eriksson        Motopark     Dallara-VW    1m32.526s  + 1.776s
15.  Carlos Huertas        Carlin       Dallara-VW    1m32.529s  + 1.779s
16.  Kimiya Sato           Motopark     Dallara-VW    1m32.694s  + 1.944s