Maldonado secures another pole
Pastor Maldonado has secured his third World Series pole position in a row for this afternoon's sprint race at Spa
Joining Maldonado on the front row is Sebastian Vettel, who continues his seamless transition from F3.
Vettel benefited from the unfortunate demise of Milos Pavlovic, who had set the fastest time in the A group before being sent to the back of the grid for not having the mandatory three litres of fuel left in his tank.
It is a bitter blow for Pavlovic, who is making his first outing with EuroInternational after enduring a frustrating first half of the season with Cram Competition.
On the second row, championship leader Alvaro Parente will start ahead of Comtec's Alx Danielsson. The Swede's Comtec team are enjoying their swansong with second driver Jaap van Lagen, who will start eleventh.
The outstanding performance of the day was Andy Soucek's. The reigning Spanish F3 champion's participation was in doubt after cracking a bone in his hand in an accident at the end of Thursday practice.
"I had to go to the medical centre ten minutes before qualifying to get a permit to race, and they said 'you can't drive'," Soucek explained.
"I put my hand on the doctor's shoulder, looked him in the eye and said 'you know what this means for my future and for my title chances? This is my responsibility'. Eventually they gave in."
Soucek languished at the bottom of the timesheet after his first run was interrupted when Alessandro Bonetti crashed heavily, bringing out the red flags. A final effort moved him up to sixth.
"It was not a good lap at all," he said. "The first lap I lost out because of the flag, and then I was on a quicker lap on my second run.
"I made a mistake in the second chicane and I couldn't correct the car because of my hand, so I ran wide.
"I am driving more or less with my left hand and the right is just to change gear, but I am confident I can be on pole in the second qualifying this afternoon."
Combined Qualifying 2 results:
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Pastor Maldonado Draco 2:04.058 2. Sebastian Vettel Carlin 2:04.205 + 0.147 3. Alvaro Parente Victory 2:04.137 + 0.079 4. Alx Danielsson Comtec 2:04.310 + 0.252 5. Andy Soucek Interwetten 2:04.322 + 0.264 6. Tomas Kostka Draco 2:04.507 + 0.449 7. Sean McIntosh KTR 2:04.356 + 0.298 8. Alvaro Barba Jenzer 2:04.552 + 0.494 9. Davide Valsecchi Epsilon 2:04.628 + 0.570 10. Borja Garcia RC 2:04.587 + 0.529 11. Jaap Van Lagen Comtec 2:04.631 + 0.573 12. Michael Aleshin Carlin 2:04.595 + 0.537 13. Christian Montanari Prema 2:04.683 + 0.625 14. Robbie Kerr KTR 2:04.632 + 0.574 15. Patrick Pilet GD 2:04.886 + 0.828 16. Ben Hanley Cram 2:04.920 + 0.862 17. James Rossiter Pons 2:04.965 + 0.907 18. Eric Salignon Interwetten 2:05.011 + 0.953 19. Steven Kane Epsilon 2:05.102 + 1.044 20. Bruce Jouanny RC 2:05.658 + 1.600 21. Gregory Franchi Prema 2:05.123 + 1.065 22. Matteo Meneghello GD 2:05.882 + 1.824 23. Ryo Fukuda Tech 1 2:05.148 + 1.090 24. Hayanari Shimoda Victory 2:06.262 + 2.204 25. Carlos Iaconelli Eurointernational 2:05.273 + 1.215 26. Marco Bonanomi Tech 1 2:06.476 + 2.418 27. Celso Miguez Pons 2:05.583 + 1.525 28. Pasquale Di Sabatino Cram 2:06.985 + 2.927 29. Alessandro Bonetti Jenzer 2:06.198 + 2.140 30. Milos Pavlovic Eurointernational DQ
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