Duran takes first pole at Barcelona

Alvaro Parente demonstrated equal authority to dominate the earlier A group, and by securing a place on the front row extends his championship lead over Ben Hanley to 26 points, with just 31 available.

Hanley's title chances in the Spanish finale appear bleak, as the Englishman could only manage a slot on the eighth row.

Milos Pavlovic entered the meeting with an outside chance of lifting the crown, and despite qualifying being the Serbian's usual weak spot, will start from fourth.

Duran has not featured at the sharp end of the grid since finishing on the podium at Spa-Francorchamps in August.

"I can't believe it to be honest," he said. "Yesterday I was really unhappy, the car was impossible to drive. It is the same problem we have had since Donington. We made a big change and everything became easier, but I was expecting to be, maybe, fifth on the grid, not on pole by a second.

"In the race Parente can't do anything stupid because of the championship, but I have a big responsibility also. My career will depend a lot on this race so I am going to be careful."

Parente felt there had been even more time in his Tech 1 car.

"I made a little mistake at the hairpin at the back of the circuit," he said, "and when I saw how much quicker we were than the rest I decided to push but not in an exaggerated way.

"We think we have fixed an engine problem from Friday, but when you run in the wet you are never running at the maximum, so we'll see."

The Carlin Motorsport pairing of Mikhail Aleshin and Robert Wickens will line up on the third row. Wickens repeated his impressive wet form from Friday practice, the Canadian snatching third in group away from Alvaro Barba on his last lap.

Former Spyker test driver Giorgio Mondini starts 26th in Eurointernational's swansong in the Renault World Series. Mondini, who now works in a bank in Lugano, Switzerland, was drafted in as a replacement for Alessandro Ciompi, who is recovering from an injury sustained in training.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time
 1.  Salvador Duran        Interwetten.com      1:53.494
 2.  Alvaro Parente        Tech 1 Racing        1:53.734  + 0.240
 3.  Miguel Molina         Pons Racing          1:54.422  + 0.928
 4.  Milos Pavlovic        International Draco  1:54.458  + 0.964
 5.  Mikhail Aleshin       Carlin Motorsport    1:54.534  + 1.040
 6.  Robert Wickens        Carlin Motorsport    1:55.470  + 1.976
 7.  Giedo van der Garde   Victory Engineering  1:54.565  + 1.071
 8.  Alvaro Barba          International Draco  1:55.713  + 2.219
 9.  Guillaume Moreau      KTR                  1:54.716  + 1.222
10.  Bertrand Baguette     KTR                  1:55.801  + 2.307
11.  Alejandro Nunez       Comtec               1:54.816  + 1.322
12.  Davide Valsecchi      Epsilon Euskadi      1:55.837  + 2.343
13.  Felipe Albuquerque    Epsilon Euskadi      1:55.106  + 1.612
14.  Frederic Vervisch     GD Racing            1:55.977  + 2.483
15.  Benjamin Hanley       Prema Powerteam      1:55.272  + 1.778
16.  Carlos Iaconelli      Pons Racing          1:56.378  + 2.884
17.  Richard Philippe      Fortec Motorsport    1:55.508  + 2.014
18.  Marco Bonanomi        RC Motorsport        1:56.473  + 2.979
19.  Pippa Mann            Cram Competition     1:56.311  + 2.817
20.  Fairuz Fauzy          Cram Competition     1:56.506  + 3.012
21.  Pasquale Di Sabatino  GD Racing            1:56.775  + 3.281
22.  Michael Herck         Comtec               1:56.535  + 3.041
23.  James Walker          Fortec Motorsport    1:56.880  + 3.386
24.  Julien Jousse         Tech 1 Racing        1:56.536  + 3.042
25.  Xavier Maassen        Prema Powerteam      1:57.614  + 4.120
26.  Giorgio Mondini       EuroInternational    1:58.019  + 4.525
27.  Alberto Valerio       Victory Engineering  1:57.903  + 4.409
28.  Clivio Piccione       RC Motorsport        1:58.108  + 4.614
29.  Julian Theobald       EuroInternational    1:59.625  + 6.131
30.  Daniel Move           Interwetten.com      1:58.915  + 5.421