Bernoldi's double pole

The ex-Arrows Formula 1 driver is regarded a something of a Jarama expert and he lived up to his billing by mastering the tricky wet conditions in the first session to the delight of his GD Racing team. Just 0.005s behind Bernoldi was the impressive Tiago Monteiro, who made the most of Carlin Motorsport's excellent wet-weather set-up to take a front row starting slot for his debut race.

"Maybe coming from England they are used to the rain," he joked. "The car was very over-steery, which is how I like it."

Third went to another newcomer, Olivier Pla, who's making a one-off appearance for RC Motorsport this weekend. His team-mate Narain Karthikeyan had been on provisional pole before the times tumbled at the end of the session as the track dried slightly. However, the Indian could not take advantage of the conditions after damaging the car's nose in a collision with Juan Cruz Alvarez (Gabord Reyco), who had spun in front 0f Karthikeyan following a tangle with Adrian Valles (Pons Racing).

The track dried enough for slicks top be de rigueur in the second session, but just as the cars hit the track it started to rain again. Bernoldi used his head and made sure of putting in a banker hot lap early on and it paid dividends when Rodrigo Sperafico beached his Vergani Formula car in the gravel trap at the hairpin, causing the session to be red flagged.

When the action resumed the track was past its best and no-one was able to improve his time. This left Ander Vilarino in second and Ryo Fukuda an unlikely third for the new Paul Belmondo Racing outfit. It was bad news for Ralph Firman, though. The ex-Jordan Formula 1 driver spun during his hot lap on the dry track and was left at the foot of the timesheets for the second day running.


Enrique Bernoldi GD Racing 1m36.785s
Tiago Monteiro Carlin Motorsport +0.0016s
Olivier Pla RC Motorsport +1.337s
Didier Andre KTR +1.446s
Felix Porteiro Porfesa Competicion +1.448s
Bruce Jouanny KTR +1.547s
Ralph Firman Gabord Reyco +4.536s


Enrique Bernoldi GD Racing 1m28.073s
Ander Vilarino Epsilon Euskadi +1.089s
Ryo Fukuda Paul Belmondo Racing +1.134s
Narain Karthikeyan RC Motorsport +1.609s
Juan Cruz Alvarez Gabord Reyco +1.612s
Rodrigo Sperafico Vergani Formula +1.796s
Ralph Firman Gabord Reyco +12.072s