Sato starts as he means to go on

The British Championship leader finished 0.08 seconds ahead of Benoit Treluyer without breaking into a sweat in the first, and quicker, of the two sessions around the Dutch circuit, but his Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen Honda was a far more comfortable 0.4secs to the good in the second period later on.

"It went so well," said Sato. "We have been really lucky with the weather, even if the wind is quite strong. At the end of the last corner, when you come off the banking flat in fifth, you can really feel the wind blowing you across the track.

"I thought there was no point chasing big times in the first session. We can easily do 1m33s tomorrow [compared with his 1m34.6s]. Then in the second session we tried a race set-up. I did a couple of continuous runs and consistently did 1m35.5s and 1m35.6s laps [compared with the next quickest runner on 1m35.8s]."

Treluyer, who is on the verge of clinching the Japanese title, returned to his old team Signature and marked himself out as a leading contender. Although he is sticking with the old-spec Renault engine (while top French championship runners Ryo Fukuda and Tiago Monteiro switch to the newer powerplant as used by British team Fortec), he is happy with the decision.

"Maybe my engine has a little less performance," he said, "but at least that means I can concentrate on set-up without worrying about anything else. But the Sato engine... that's so quick!"

Bad news for Treluyer, as well as Fukuda and Gianmaria Bruni (who placed third and fourth), is that their Renault engines are already being run at peak performance, while the Neil Brown-tuned Mugen motors are traditionally 'turned up' for qualifying. Sato therefore looks extremely good for pole position.

Fukuda, who leads the French series, rated the newer engine (based on the Megane) an improvement on the old Laguna-based unit. "I think I have more power," said the Saulnier Racing driver. "I think it's going to be a fine battle between me and [fellow Japanese] Sato, but not until Sunday because we're in different qualifying groups tomorrow."

As well as Sato and Bruni, Matt Davies and Derek Hayes completed an excellent day for the British championship contingent by rounding out the top six. By contrast, the top German series representative was Markus Winkelhock (son of the late Manfred) in seventh.

The other big battle will be the race just to get on the grid, with 45 cars chasing 37 spots. Of the British series runners, only Alex Gurney was outside the 'qualifying' cut-off, while Jamie Spence, Atsushi Katsumata and Ryan Dalziel are uncomfortably close to the bubble.

Takuma Sato (Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) 1m34.635s
Benoit Treluyer (Signature Dallara-Renault) 1m34.722s
Ryo Fukuda (Saulnier Racing Dallara-Renault) 1m34.836s
Gianmaria Bruni (Fortec Dallara-Renault) 1m34.971s
Matt Davies (Team Avanti Dallara-Opel) 1m35.193s
Derek Hayes (Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen) 1m35.224s
Markus Winkelhock (Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Opel) 1m35.225s
James Courtney (Jaguar Racing Dallara-Mugen) 1m35.306s
Tiago Monteiro (ASM Dallara-Renault) 1m35.336s
Tristan Gommendy (ASM Dallara-Renault) 1m35.392s