Bird takes maiden Euro Series pole

The Mucke Motorsport driver, who set the pace in Friday's free practice session as well, knocked Stefano Coletti off the top spot in the dying moments of qualifying to snatch pole by 0.044 seconds.

Coletti had looked good for pole after topping the timesheet several times during the session, including coming out on top of a head-to-head with championship favourite Jules Bianchi with five minutes to go.

In the end Coletti had to settle for second behind Bird, while Mika Maki was two tenths of a second back in third.

Series newcomer Roberto Merhi briefly got himself onto the front row as the majority of the field improved on their final laps, but the Manor Motorsport driver eventually finished the session in fourth.

Aside from briefly knocking Coletti off the top in their duel, Bianchi didn't really shine in qualifying and will start fifth alongside Basil Shaaban, who shot into the top six at the end as he set the fastest first-sector time of the session.

The fourth row of the grid for Saturday's first race of the season will be an all-Finnish affair, with Atte Mustonen seventh for F3-newcomer Motopark Academy, and Valtteri Bottas eighth for ART.

Carlin duo Brendon Hartley and Jake Rosenzweig will start the first race from the back of the grid, despite qualifying 14th and 20th, as a punishment for a tyre mix up by the team during qualifying when each driver used a set of tyres belonging to the other.

Pos Driver                Team        Car     Time          Gap
 1. Sam Bird              Mucke       D/M     1m33.657s
 2. Stefano Coletti       Prema       D/M     1m33.701s  +0.044
 3. Mika Maki             Signature   D/V     1m33.882s  +0.225
 4. Roberto Merhi         Manor       D/M     1m34.226s  +0.569
 5. Jules Bianchi         ART         D/M     1m34.297s  +0.640
 6. Basil Shaaban         Prema       D/M     1m34.312s  +0.655
 7. Atte Mustonen         Motopark    D/M     1m34.341s  +0.684
 8. Valtteri Bottas       ART         D/M     1m34.433s  +0.776
 9. Jean-Karl Vernay      Signature   D/V     1m34.477s  +0.820
10. Christian Vietoris    Mucke       D/M     1m34.499s  +0.842
11. Henkie Waldschmidt    SG          D/M     1m34.559s  +0.902
12. Marco Wittmann        Mucke       D/M     1m34.836s  +1.179
13. Esteban Gutierrez     ART         D/M     1m34.838s  +1.181
14. Brendon Hartley       Carlin      D/V     1m34.841s  +1.184
15. Alexander Sims        Mucke       D/M     1m34.866s  +1.209
16. Tiago Geronimi        Signature   D/V     1m34.908s  +1.251
17. Robert Wickens        Kolles      D/V     1m34.925s  +1.268
18. Matteo Chinosi        Prema       D/M     1m35.029s  +1.372
19. Christopher Zanella   Motopark    D/M     1m35.067s  +1.410
20. Jake Rosenzweig       Carlin      D/V     1m35.137s  +1.480
21. Pedro Henrique        Manor       D/M     1m35.299s  +1.642
22. Kevin Mirocha         HBR         D/M     1m35.320s  +1.663
23. Cesar Ramos           Manor       D/M     1m35.407s  +1.750
24. Adrien Tambay         ART         D/M     1m35.450s  +1.793
25. Alexandre Marsoin     SG          D/M     1m35.809s  +2.152
26. Carlo van Dam         Kolles      D/V     1m35.834s  +2.177
27. Johnny Cecotto Jr     HBR         D/M     1m35.858s  +2.201
28. Andrea Caldarelli     SG          D/M     1m36.104s  +2.447