Alguersuari leads Le Mans qualifying

A 12-car B group was the first to take to the Bugatti circuit for the opening 20-minute session of this morning's split qualifying sessions. Hungaroring victor Fairuz Fauzy led the way, with Pasquale Di Sabatino, James Walker and Marco Barba taking turns in second place.

Fauzy appeared in control but with two minutes remaining a flood of fast times bumped the Malaysian out of the top six and denied him a place in the superpole shootout.

Oliver Turvey took P1 from Fauzy but he was usurped at the head of the timesheet by his Carlin Motorsport team-mate Alguersuari, who produced a superb 1m26.056s.

Turvey was also demoted by Sten Pentus and James Walker, as Pasquale Di Sabatino and Marco Barba completed the top six.

The A group was extremely closely contested, with just 0.051s covering the top three. Jon Lancaster continued his Friday form to set the fastest time - a 1m26.147s.

"The grip came very quickly and we made the most of it," said Lancaster. "It's my third World Series meeting and we keep progressing. We have always had the pace but bad luck issues with red flags and yellow flags at the wrong time have hurt us. I am confident."

Ultimate Motorsport's Miguel Molina, chasing his first victory of 2009, was second in the A group ahead of Silverstone winner Charles Pic. Both of the visiting GP2 drivers, Dani Clos and Edoardo Mortara, progressed into superpole, as did championship leader Marcos Martinez.

Tech 1 debutant Mortara's last-gasp improvement was an upset for championship hopeful Bertrand Baguette. The Belgian, who is eight points off Martinez's lead in the standings in third position overall, missed a place in superpole by 0.033s.

Group A
Pos Driver                  Team            Time          Gap
 1. Jaime Alguersuari       Carlin          1m26.056s
 2. Sten Pentus             Fortec          1m26.201s  +0.145
 3. James Walker            P1              1m26.207s  +0.151
 4. Oliver Turvey           Carlin          1m26.295s  +0.239
 5. Pasquale di Sabatino    RC              1m26.323s  +0.267
 6. Marco Barba             Draco           1m26.367s  +0.311
 7. Greg Mansell            Ultimate        1m26.471s  +0.415
 8. Fairuz Fauzy            Fortec          1m26.475s  +0.419
 9. Anton Nebylitskiy       SG              1m27.305s  +1.249
10. Guillaume Moreau        SG              1m27.688s  +1.632
11. Federico Leo            Pons            1m28.230s  +2.174
12. Cristiano Morgado       Comtec          1m29.116s  +3.060

Group B
Pos Driver                  Team            Time          Gap
 1. Jon Lancaster           Comtec          1m26.147s
 2. Miguel Molina           Ultimate        1m26.190s  +0.043
 3. Charles Pic             Tech 1          1m26.198s  +0.051
 4. Dani Clos               Epsilon         1m26.276s  +0.129
 5. Edoardo Mortara         Tech 1          1m26.464s  +0.317
 6. Marcos Martinez         Pons            1m26.470s  +0.323
 7. Bertrand Baguette       Draco           1m26.503s  +0.356
 8. Chris van der Drift     Epsilon         1m26.549s  +0.402
 9. Daniil Move             P1              1m26.808s  +0.661
10. Adrian Zaugg            Interwetten     1m26.837s  +0.690
11. Filip Salaquarda        Prema           1m27.982s  +1.835
12. Mihai Marinescu         Interwetten     1m28.087s  +1.940
13. Omar Leal               Prema           1m28.330s  +2.183