Vergne grabs another two poles

The 30-minute session began in wet but drying conditions, but with rain holding off the track just got quicker and quicker in the closing stages.

The three drivers that best timed their final quick laps on slicks were the trio that topped the timesheet. Frenchman Vergne (Carlin) struggled in the wet, but claimed the top spot for tomorrow's 40-minute 'feature' race with a 1m45.944s best, nearly a second clear of Hitech's Will Buller. Vergne's second best time (1m47.869s) was good enough to give him pole for race one today as well.

Northern Irishman Buller produced his best qualifying performance of the season in the tricky conditions to go second, but is under investigation for apparent irregularities with his pitstops during the session.

Vergne's Carlin team-mate Adriano Buzaid set the third fastest time to equal his best performance of the season at Thruxton last weekend.

Racing Steps Foundation driver James Calado (Carlin) got baulked by traffic and ended up fourth fastest, a disappointing outcome after dominating practice yesterday and trading fastest times with Vergne as the track dried out this morning.

Fortec Motorsport led the way when the drivers switched from wets to slicks midway through the session, but struggled a little as the track dried out. Oli Webb managed fifth fastest time near the end, but team-mate Daniel McKenzie wound up down in 11th.

F3 rookie Rupert Svendsen-Cook did a solid job to round out the top six, ahead of Carlin team-mate Lucas Foresti. The Brazilian was right in the mix until a sequence of late improvements at the death.

T-Sport's Alex Brundle also timed his final run well and delivered his best qualifying performance of the year to go eighth, while his National Class team-mate Menasheh Idafar lapped inside the top six in wet conditions, before ending up an impressive 12th fastest out of 24 runners.

Hitech's Gabriel Dias and Raikkonen Robertson's Daisuke Nakajima completed the top 10. Nakajima's Raikkonen Robertson team-mates Felipe Nasr and Carlos Huertas were quick in the wet, but slumped to 15th and 17th respectively as the track dried out and they struggled to improve.

Carlin's Jazeman Jaafar crashed in the complex during his first hot lap on slicks in the second half of the session, so wound up 23rd, just ahead of series debutant Yann Cunha (Manor), who also went off.

Race one grid:

Pos  Driver                Team                 Car  Time       Gap
 1.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Carlin               D/V  1m47.869s
 2.  Lucas Foresti         Carlin               D/V  1m48.530s  + 0.661s
 3.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin               D/V  1m48.609s  + 0.740s
 4.  James Calado          Carlin               D/V  1m48.823s  + 0.954s
 5.  Adriano Buzaid        Carlin               D/V  1m48.910s  + 1.041s
 6.  Oli Webb              Fortec               D/M  1m49.558s  + 1.689s
 7.  Felipe Nasr           Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1m50.020s  + 2.151s
 8.  Carlos Huertas        Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1m50.403s  + 2.534s
 9.  Daisuke Nakajima      Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1m50.556s  + 2.687s
10.  William Buller        Hitech               D/V  1m50.649s  + 2.780s
11.  Alex Brundle          T-Sport              D/V  1m50.689s  + 2.820s
12.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport              D/H  1m50.738s  + 2.869s
13.  Gabriel Dias          Hitech               D/V  1m50.816s  + 2.947s
14.  Carlos Munoz          Mucke                D/M  1m51.157s  + 3.288s
15.  Pietro Fantin         Hitech               D/V  1m51.302s  + 3.433s
16.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec               D/M  1m51.452s  + 3.583s
17.  Hywel Lloyd           CF/Manor             D/M  1m51.521s  + 3.652s
18.  Jay Bridger           Litespeed            D/M  1m51.666s  + 3.797s
19.  James Cole            T-Sport              D/H  1m53.286s  + 5.417s
20.  Maxim Snegirev        Fortec               D/M  1m53.724s  + 5.855s
21.  Adderly Fong          Sino Vision          D/M  1m54.287s  + 6.418s
22.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin               D/V  1m56.718s  + 8.849s
23.  Juan Carlos Sistos    West-Tec             D/H  1m58.006s  + 10.137s
24.  Yann Cunha            Manor                D/M  1m59.756s  + 11.887s

Race three grid:

Pos  Driver                Team                 Car  Time       Gap
 1.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Carlin               D/V  1m45.944s
 2.  Adriano Buzaid        Carlin               D/V  1m47.114s  + 1.170s
 3.  James Calado          Carlin               D/V  1m47.368s  + 1.424s
 4.  Oli Webb              Fortec               D/M  1m47.770s  + 1.826s
 5.  Rupert Svendsen-Cook  Carlin               D/V  1m47.936s  + 1.992s
 6.  Lucas Foresti         Carlin               D/V  1m48.100s  + 2.156s
 7.  Alex Brundle          T-Sport              D/V  1m48.836s  + 2.892s
 8.  William Buller        Hitech               D/V  1m48.936s  + 2.992s
 9.  Gabriel Dias          Hitech               D/V  1m49.218s  + 3.274s
10.  Daisuke Nakajima      Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1m49.511s  + 3.567s
11.  Daniel McKenzie       Fortec               D/M  1m49.543s  + 3.599s
12.  Menasheh Idafar       T-Sport              D/H  1m49.582s  + 3.638s
13.  Carlos Munoz          Mucke                D/M  1m49.672s  + 3.728s
14.  Jay Bridger           Litespeed            D/M  1m49.867s  + 3.923s
15.  Felipe Nasr           Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1m49.900s  + 3.956s
16.  Pietro Fantin         Hitech               D/V  1m49.915s  + 3.971s
17.  Carlos Huertas        Raikkonen Robertson  D/M  1m50.275s  + 4.331s
18.  Hywel Lloyd           CF/Manor             D/M  1m50.592s  + 4.648s
19.  James Cole            T-Sport              D/H  1m51.167s  + 5.223s
20.  Maxim Snegirev        Fortec               D/M  1m51.390s  + 5.446s
21.  Adderly Fong          Sino Vision          D/M  1m52.810s  + 6.866s
22.  Juan Carlos Sistos    West-Tec             D/H  1m54.722s  + 8.778s
23.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin               D/V  1m56.607s  + 10.663s
24.  Yann Cunha            Manor                D/M  1m58.509s  + 12.565s