Aleshin claims first season pole
Michael Aleshin has claimed his first pole position of the season ahead of this afternoon's World Series race at the Nurburgring
Alvaro Parente joins Aleshin on the front row after trading fastest times in the "A group" with Alx Danielsson.
Borja Garcia qualified third to lift the spirits of his RC Motorsport team, after a decision by the stewards yesterday to strip the Spaniard of his victory at Spa last weekend.
Heavy rain fell overnight in the Eifel region, and the track was still damp and foggy when the first "A-group" runners took to the track
The "B" runners did not have a marked advantage despite running in clearer conditions.
"The track was okay, only a small river running across the South Chicane," said a buoyant Aleshin.
"Many drivers were lifting the throttle here, because on slick tyres the car was unstable. I was hard on the throttle and I think this is where I made up the time."
Danielsson held first position in the earlier group with five minutes to go, before being usurped by Victory driver Alvaro Parente.
Danielsson was denied the chance of responding when the yellow flags were brought out as Comtec team-mate Carlos Iacconelli had an off-track excursion at the entry of the Ford chicane.
"It's a shame it had to be my own-team-mate!" said Danielsson. "We were trying an F1 style approach to qualifying. Lots of fuel in the car and then just stay out on track in case of any incidents."
Unfortunately for the Swede, the chance to reap the rewards of the master plan was scuppered when the session was subsequently red-flagged and not re-started. Danielsson will start in fourth.
Combined qualifying results:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Michael Aleshin Carlin Motorsport 1:45.573 11 2. Alvaro Parente Victory Engineering 1:45.639 9 3. Borja Garcia RC Motorsport 1:45.776 + 0.203 11 4. Alx Danielsson Comtec 1:45.708 + 0.069 9 5. Ben Hanley Cram Competition 1:45.805 + 0.232 10 6. Pastor Maldonado Draco Multiracing USA 1:45.852 + 0.213 7 7. Milos Pavlovic Eurointernational 1:46.115 + 0.542 11 8. Christian Montanari Prema Powerteam 1:45.864 + 0.225 9 9. Sean Mcintosh KTR 1:46.121 + 0.548 10 10. Eric Salignon Interwetten.Com 1:45.924 + 0.285 8 11. Ryo Fukuda Tech 1 Racing 1:46.123 + 0.550 10 12. Davide Valsecchi Epsilon Euskadi 1:45.939 + 0.300 7 13. James Rossiter Pons Racing 1:46.329 + 0.756 9 14. Tomas Kostka Draco Multiracing USA 1:46.190 + 0.551 8 15. Andy Soucek Interwetten.Com 1:46.481 + 0.908 11 16. Marco Bonanomi Tech 1 Racing 1:46.334 + 0.695 7 17. Alvaro Barba Jenzer Motorsport 1:46.643 + 1.070 11 18. Steven Kane Epsilon Euskadi 1:46.515 + 0.876 8 19. Robbie Kerr KTR 1:46.794 + 1.221 11 20. Hayanari Shimoda Victory Engineering 1:46.557 + 0.918 9 21. Bruce Jouanny RC Motorsport 1:46.848 + 1.275 10 22. Celso Miguez Pons Racing 1:46.738 + 1.099 7 23. Gregory Franchi Prema Powerteam 1:46.897 + 1.324 11 24. Adrian Zaugg Carlin Motorsport 1:47.517 + 1.878 9 25. Alessandro Bonetti Jenzer Motorsport 1:47.346 + 1.773 11 26. Pascuale Di Sabatino Cram Competition 1:47.830 + 2.191 8 27. Marcos Martinez Eurointernational 1:47.841 + 2.268 9 28. Carlos Iaconelli Comtec 1:48.658 + 3.019 7
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