Qualifying: Poles for Courtney, Davidson

Despite a big crash at Paddock Hill Bend during Thursday's test session at the Kent circuit, Courtney got back behind the wheel to take pole for race two.

Meanwhile, Davidson did virtually a perfect lap in his Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen to edge out championship winning team-mate Takuma Sato by 0.089 seconds in qualifying for race one.

After joining the session late, the Brit set a lap good enough for pole on only his second flying lap, then lowered it further and, for good measure, virtually equalled it in the dying stages of the 20 minutes.

"It seemed like it was taking the others a long time to get down to their times," said Davidson. "But after five or six laps they started to do good times, and on my second I was on pole. I couldn't believe it. It was actually quite easy, apart from waiting for what Takuma would do."

Sato, who wasn't completely happy with his car's set-up today (after his own off in testing - at Surtees), couldn't do enough, although he did ace Davidson in the second session to complete a brace of outside front row performances.

Courtney, though, was supreme this time: "We didn't get any testing and had to use the first qualifying as a test. It was a day's work in 20 minutes, and this is a nice reward for the lads who worked so hard. The car feels like it's really working well."

Mark Taylor placed third in session one in his Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen, just pipping team-mate Derek Hayes. The two reversed their positions later on, with Hayes fourth and Taylor fifth, despite the Northern Irishman causing a session stoppage when he spun off at Surtees.

Andre Lotterer, in the second Jaguar car, completed the top six in both sessions.

The Scholarship Class gets stand-alone races tomorrow, both of which will be headed by Matt Gilmore. The Performance Racing Dallara-Opel man made hay while series leader Robbie Kerr had a nightmare day. He crashed at Surtees in the first session (in which he was second) and could only make seventh later on, after his cobbled together car joined in the action with only six minutes to go.

Anthony Davidson Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen 42.085s
Takuma Sato Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen 42.174s
Mark Taylor Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen 42.217s
Derek Hayes Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen 42.239s
James Courtney Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen 42.339s
Andre Lotterer Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen 42.374s
Jamie Spence Duma Racing Dallara-Mugen 42.390s
Matt Davies Team Avanti Dallara-Opel 42.424s
Gianmaria Bruni Fortec Dallara-Renault 42.424s
Ryan Dalziel Duma Racing Dallara-Mugen 42.503s

Matt Gilmore Performance Racing Dallara-Opel

James Courtney (Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen) 42.033s
Takuma Sato Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen 42.068s
Anthony Davidson Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen 42.123s
Derek Hayes Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen 42.169s
Mark Taylor Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen 42.178s
Andre Lotterer Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen 42.181s
Bruce Jouanny Promatecme Dallara-Mugen 42.242s
Andy Priaulx Alan Docking Racing Dallara-Mugen 42.259s
Matt Davies Team Avanti Dallara-Opel 42.343s
Alex Gurney Fortec Dallara-Renault 42.376s

Matt Gilmore Performance Racing Dallara-Opel