Asmer takes pole for race one

The Hitech Racing driver had no trouble going fastest, although he and the team both felt that they did not get the maximum from the car. Asmer is threatening to find another couple of tenths in the next session.

A late effort by Atte Mustonen (Double R Racing) put the Finn second on the grid alongside the Estonian Asmer, making it an all-Baltic front row.

But the main story of qualifying was the fine performance of T-Sport's Rodolfo Gonzalez, who was a career-best third-fastest. The Venezualan's result was a boost for Mugen-Honda, proving that the engine manufacturer is still capable of challenging the dominant Mercedes.

Fortec Motorsport's Greg Mansell returned to form with fourth place, while Maro Engel was the leading Carlin Motorsport driver in fifth.

Sergio Perez completed a good morning's work for T-Sport by going fastest in the National Class.

Pos  Driver            Car                    Time
 1.  Marko Asmer       Dallara-Mercedes       1:15.312
 2.  Atte Mustonen     Dallara-Mercedes       1:15.478  + 0.166
 3.  Rodolfo Gonzalez  Dallara-Mugen-Honda    1:15.524  + 0.212
 4.  Greg Mansell      Dallara-Mercedes       1:15.557  + 0.245
 5.  Maro Engel        Dallara-Mercedes       1:15.562  + 0.250
 6.  Stephen Jelley    Dallara-Mercedes       1:15.597  + 0.285
 7.  Sam Bird          Dallara-Mercedes       1:15.717  + 0.405
 8.  S.Hohenthal       Dallara-Mercedes       1:15.756  + 0.444
 9.  Michael Devaney   Mygale-Mercedes        1:15.826  + 0.514
10.  Alberto Valerio   Dallara-Mercedes       1:15.828  + 0.516
11.  Niall Breen       Dallara-Mercedes       1:15.917  + 0.605
12.  Mario Moraes      Dallara-Mercedes       1:16.067  + 0.755
13.  Jonathan Kennard  Dallara-Mercedes       1:16.105  + 0.793
14.  E.Guerrieri       Mygale-Mercedes        1:16.161  + 0.849
15.  Max Chilton       Dallara-Mercedes       1:16.176  + 0.864
16.  Sergio Perez      Dallara-Mugen-Honda    1:16.304  + 0.992
17.  W.Grubmüller      Dallara-Mercedes       1:16.491  + 1.179
18.  John Martin       Dallara-Mugen-Honda    1:16.590  + 1.278
19.  Ali Jackson       Dallara-Mercedes       1:16.637  + 1.325
20.  Cheng Cong Fu     Dallara-Mugen-Honda    1:16.708  + 1.396
21.  Leo Mansell       Dallara-Mercedes       1:16.739  + 1.427
22.  S.Al-Khalifa      Dallara-Mugen-Honda    1:16.989  + 1.677
23.  Ricardo Teixeira  Dallara-Mugen-Honda    1:17.121  + 1.809
24.  Michael Meadows   Dallara-Mugen-Honda    1:17.207  + 1.895
25.  F.Castellacci     Dallara-Mugen-Honda    1:17.349  + 2.037
26.  Hamed Al Fardan   Dallara-Mugen-Honda    1:17.393  + 2.081
27.  Viktor Jensen     Dallara-Mugen-Honda    1:17.617  + 2.305
28.  Ernesto Otero     Dallara-Mugen-Honda    1:17.654  + 2.342
29.  Juan P.Garcia     Lola-Dome-Mugen-Honda  1:18.141  + 2.829