Danielsson on Barcelona pole
Alx Danielsson has taken pole position for this afternoon's sprint race as the Renault World Series reaches its climax in Barcelona
The Swede has a solid half-second gap over the field, as his late season surge for the championship continues. Alvaro Parente will line up alongside Danielsson on the front row, but faces a near-impossible task to win the championship from fifth, 26 points behind in the standings.
Andy Soucek will start third with new Interwetten.com teammate Franck Perera joining him on the second row. Championship leader Borja Garcia will start sixth for RC Motorsport.
Pastor Maldonado, currently third in the points, has had his title hopes severely dented after a heavy shunt at Turn Three which brought out the red flags in the 'A' session.
The Draco machine suffered significant damage to its right-rear corner, and as a penalty for incurring a stoppage the Venezuelan will lose his fastest time, relegating him to the back of the grid.
Danielsson competed in the B group in the split qualifying session, which was first out on track. The Comtec driver's first run of a 1:27.439 was good enough for P1 before being bettered by Andy Soucek with six minutes remaining. Milos Pavlovic briefly knocked Danielsson down another spot before Danielsson broke into the 1:26s with three minutes left on the clock.
"My first run was interrupted by yellows so my time was set when the tyres weren't at their stickiest," said Danielsson.
"However I can't be greedy about the margin we have. We will be starting on scrubbed tyres when some others have new tyres, and the Interwetten cars behind look strong. I needed this point for pole, I need to win and, really, I need a point for fastest lap.
"It won't be the priority, look at Pastor - he went for the pole and crashed, but in the back of my mind I'll be thinking about fastest lap. The trouble is to set a quick time here eats up tyres, so maybe I will try at the end of the race."
Garcia's nearest challenger Andy Soucek is pleased with the extra support provided by Perera. "I think Franck will be a good team player, we have worked together to produce a good set-up. It's just a shame we both had problems with yellow flags on our quick runs."
Oliver Jarvis had his fastest time deleted after causing a full course yellow, and will line up on the penultimate row.
Qualifying group A times: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Alvaro Parente Victory 1:27.027 2. Franck Perera Interwetten 1:27.173 + 0.146 3. Borja Garcia RC 1:27.375 + 0.348 4. Christian Montanari Prema 1:27.376 + 0.349 5. Celso Miguez Comtec 1:27.462 + 0.435 6. James Rossiter Pons 1:27.552 + 0.525 7. Tristan Gommendy Pons 1:27.974 + 0.947 8. Davide Valsecchi Epsilon 1:28.067 + 1.040 9. Patrick Pilet Tech 1 1:28.127 + 1.100 10. Alvaro Barba Jenzer 1:28.256 + 1.229 11. Ben Hanley Cram 1:28.495 + 1.468 12. Marco Barba L. Jenzer 1:28.541 + 1.514 13. Pascuale Di Sabatino Cram 1:29.191 + 2.164 14. Pastor Maldonado Draco 1:29.705 + 2.678 15. Nil Montserrat Eurointernational Qualifying group B times: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Alx Danielsson Comtec 1:26.788 2. Andy Soucek Interwetten 1:27.210 + 0.422 3. Milos Pavlovic Draco 1:27.270 + 0.482 4. Sean McIntosh KTR 1:27.435 + 0.647 5. Michael Aleshin Carlin 1:27.535 + 0.747 6. Adrian Zaugg Carlin 1:27.609 + 0.821 7. Robbie Kerr KTR 1:27.899 + 1.111 8. Steven Kane Epsilon 1:28.138 + 1.350 9. Gregory Franchi Prema 1:28.375 + 1.587 10. Ryo Fukuda Tech 1 1:28.416 + 1.628 11. Miguel Molina GD 1:28.425 + 1.637 12. Bruce Jouanny RC 1:28.512 + 1.724 13. Carlos Iaconelli GD 1:29.327 + 2.539 14. Oliver Jarvis Victory 1:30.087 + 3.299 15. Alberto Valerio Eurointernational 1:30.288 + 3.500 Starting positions: Pos Driver Team 1. Alx Danielsson Comtec 2. Alvaro Parente Victory 3. Andy Soucek Interwetten 4. Franck Perera Interwetten 5. Milos Pavlovic Draco 6. Borja Garcia RC 7. Sean McIntosh KTR 8. Christian Montanari Prema 9. Michael Aleshin Carlin 10. Celso Miguez Comtec 11. Adrian Zaugg Carlin 12. James Rossiter Pons 13. Robbie Kerr KTR 14. Tristan Gommendy Pons 15. Steven Kane Epsilon 16. Davide Valsecchi Epsilon 17. Gregory Franchi Prema 18. Patrick Pilet Tech 1 19. Ryo Fukuda Tech 1 20. Alvaro Barba Jenzer 21. Miguel Molina GD 22. Ben Hanley Cram 23. Bruce Jouanny RC 24. Marco Barba L. Jenzer 25. Carlos Iaconelli GD 26. Pascuale Di Sabatino Cram 27. Alberto Valerio Eurointernational 28. Pastor Maldonado Draco 29. Oliver Jarvis Victory 30. Nil Montserrat Eurointernational
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