Gommendy on pole for race 2

The Frenchman, who is competing in his first World Series round of the season, will be joined on the front row by Pastor Maldonado.

Maldonado topped the A group, which was disadvantaged by running in the worst of the conditions. Spaniard Borja Garcia will start third, ahead of yesterday's winner Alx Danielsson.

"I pushed straight away, and ended up spinning on my first lap," said Gommendy. "I think the other group was wetter.

"But what I have enjoyed most this weekend, more than the result, is working with the Pons team and seeing the evolution we have made.

"In the dry yesterday, neither [teammate James] Rossiter nor I could do the times, so we will see what happens for the race."

In the split qualifying session, the B group were the first to take to the track. Garcia and Celso Miguez set the early running, before Gommendy put in a 1:45.6 lap to go top with 13 minutes remaining.

Garcia was able to respond as behind Eric Salignon, Alvaro Parente and Miguez scrapped over third.

Gommendy regained the top spot from Garcia with three minutes remaining and shaved another 1.3 seconds off his effort by the chequered flag, in so doing withstanding Garcia's challenge.

Parente eventually claimed the third spot for Victory Engineering, over two seconds behind Gommendy's time.

Steven Kane suffered more misfortune, only taking to the track with a minute remaining. "Steven had an electrical problem with the gearbox," said Kane's Epsilon Euskadi team manager Joan Villadelpraat.

The rain hardened for the A group, which was interrupted by two red flags. Hayanari Shimoda was the first victim of the conditions, skating off on his first quick lap and bringing out a full course yellow.

Alx Danielsson went top of the timing screens when racing resumed, the Swede taking an unusually tight line on the exit of the last corner in order to get the power down as early as possible.

Italian Davide Valsecchi caused the first stoppage by spinning off at La Chapelle with five of the twenty minute session remaining.

The order at the time was Danielsson from Maldonado, championship leader Andy Soucek in third and then series debutant South African Gavin Cronje.

On the restart, Maldonado put in a stunning 1:43.699, a full eight tenths ahead of Danielsson's best.

Miguel Molina put in a surprising third fastest time for the minnows GD Racing, and will start the race from sixth on the grid.

Proceedings were brought to a premature end when Robbie Kerr spun and stalled his KTR entry in a dangerous position. With just 50 seconds left on the clock the session was not restarted.

Combined qualifying 2 results:

Pos  Driver            Team                 Time
 1.  Tristan Gommendy  Pons Racing          1:41.950
 2.  Pastor Maldonado  Draco Multiracing    1:43.699 +  1.749
 3.  Borja Garcia      RC Motorsport        1:42.718 +  0.768
 4.  Alx Danielsson    Comtec Racing        1:44.427 +  2.477
 5.  ?lvaro Parente    Victory Engineering  1:44.166 +  2.216
 6.  Miguel Molina     GD Racing            1:45.274 +  3.324
 7.  Celso Miguez      Comtec Racing        1:44.274 +  2.324
 8.  Andy Soucek       Interwetten.com      1:45.366 +  3.416
 9.  Alvaro Barba      Jenzer Motorsport    1:44.489 +  2.539
10.  Gavin Cronje      Carlin Motorsport    1:45.622 +  3.672
11.  Eric Salignon     Interwetten.com      1:44.623 +  2.673
12.  Greg Franchi      Prema Powerteam      1:45.746 +  3.796
13.  Michael Aleshin   Carlin Motorsport    1:44.745 +  2.795
14.  C.Montanari       Prema Powerteam      1:45.914 +  3.964
15.  Sean McIntosh     KTR                  1:45.255 +  3.305
16.  Milos Pavlovic    Draco Multiracing    1:46.309 +  4.359
17.  James Rossiter    Pons Racing          1:45.297 +  3.347
18.  Marcos Martinez   EuroInternational    1:46.534 +  4.584
19.  Carlos Iaconelli  GD Racing            1:45.731 +  3.781
20.  Bruce Jouanny     RC Motorsport        1:46.784 +  4.834
21.  Ryo Fukuda        Tech 1 Racing        1:46.289 +  4.339
22.  Robbie Kerr       KTR                  1:46.925 +  4.975
23.  P.Di Sabatino     Cram Competition     1:46.502 +  4.552
24.  Benjamin Hanley   Cram Competition     1:46.999 +  5.049
25.  Patrick Pilet     Tech 1 Racing        1:47.452 +  5.502
26.  Davide Valsecchi  Epsilon Euskadi      1:47.556 +  5.606
27.  Marco Barba       Jenzer Motorsport    1:47.466 +  5.516
28.  Mehdi Bennani     EuroInternational    1:51.725 +  9.775
29.  Steven Kane       Epsilon Euskadi      1:53.091 + 11.141
30.  Hayanari Shimoda  Victory Engineering  2:05.473 + 23.523