Qualifying 1: Carbone takes pole

The Dallara-Renault duo held exactly the same positions during testing on the British Grand Prix circuit last week, but with the top five places covered by just 0.2sec, it was far from a whitewash.

Carbone said: "I think we are working so hard now that this is just a result of that. We were confident coming here after testing and we seem to be making progress all the time."

Manor Motorsport ace Mark Taylor showed that he had put his handling woes from Donington three weeks ago firmly behind him to take third place while Promatecme driver Bruce Jouanny was fourth.

Carlin Motorsport team boss Trevor Carlin's pre-event predictions of his reigning champion team being less dominant at Silverstone proved founded. Championship leader James Courtney was a disappointing fifth fastest and this was the first qualifying session of the year not to be topped by the young Australian.

"We should have had pole today," said Carlin. "It's frustrating; a big circuit like this and you still get traffic. I shouldn't be too disappointed with three drivers in the top 10 though."

Scholarship Class star Adam Carroll continued to shine taking class pole in sixth overall, while Robbie Kerr, who is currently second in the standings was seventh.

Fabio Carbone Fortec Motorsport 1m42.577s
Mark Taylor Manor Motorsport 1m42.707s
Heikki Kovalainen Fortec Motorsport 1m42.730s
Bruce Jouanny Promatecme 1m42.741s
James Courtney Carlin Motorsport 1m42.749s
S Adam Carroll Sweeney Racing 1m42.827s
Robbie Kerr Alan Docking Racing 1m42.949s
Richard Antinucci Manor Motorsport 1m43.125s
Michael Keohane Carlin Motorsport 1m43.134s
Alan van der Merwe Carlin Motorsport 1m43.327s

S - Scholarship

Adam Carroll
Gavin Smith Meritus Racing 1m43.929s
Stefan Hodgetts Team Park 1m44.251s