Moreau on pole in Hungary

The Frenchman had set the pace since free practice on Friday and was the only man in either qualifying group under the 1:32 barrier.

Spaniard Alvaro Barba topped the B group which was out earlier, and in therefore dustier conditions.

Moreau has been active in the Le Mans Series in the seven week gap since Monaco, an experience the Frenchman cites as being positive for his World Series campaign.

"This is a real comeback for me," said Moreau. "My last good season was in Formula Three in 2005. This year we've been close to getting a result but have just been always a little unlucky.

"The pole is a result of the hard work we've been doing with the team and, I think, working with (co-driver) Jean-Marc Gounon in the Le Mans Series."

Portuguese Filipe Albuquerque will start third ahead of Cram Competition's Fairuz Fauzy. The prospects for a new victor in this afternoon's race are heightened as the best placed previous winner is Alvaro Parente in tenth, just ahead of series leader Sebastian Vettel. Vettel sustained a minor injury to his hand in a free practice accident with Ben Hanley at Turn 11 on Friday.

In the first qualifying session, Barba had hit the ground running with a 1:33.079 before Fauzy moved into the top spot with seven minutes of the session remaining.

With three minutes left on the clocks, Barba responded to the Malaysian's challenge. Two quick laps in succession, a 1:32.296 and then a 1:32.109, were enough to move him ahead of Fauzy, who nonetheless remained pleased with the result.

"Okay, I am starting on the dirt on the inside," said Fairuz, "but it should be a good position for first corner after the start." 

With only a minute of the session remaining the red flags were brought out. Carlin's Mikhail Aleshin went off at Turn 11 and, simultaneously, Tech 1's Julien Jousse lost control on the exit of the last corner and clouted the pit wall.

"I had oversteer when I hit the gas," said Jousse. "I'm not sure if we will be able to start because the tub is damaged and we have a race against time to repair it."

There was to be no restart, much to the despondency of those who were yet to show their hand. Aleshin dropped from third in group to 11th having his best time deleted for causing the stoppage. Pons driver Miguel Molina moved up on to the third row as a result.

Englishman Ben Hanley was another of those affected by the abrupt ending.

"The first sectors of my last lap were quick and then I had the red flag as I came around the last corner," said Ben. "I'm not sure if there's much we can do today, but we must try to be in the best position for the reverse grid race tomorrow."

KTR's pairing of Moreau and Bertrand Baguette looked strong throughout the later and faster session for the second half of the field.

"Perhaps because the track is new to everyone we are more competitive than usual," said Bertrand.

Michael Herck briefly held down fourth in his best performance to date, before spinning and bringing out the red flags. Having stalled and exited the car, Herck was later able to get underway again and return to the pits. The Comtec car was subsequently black flagged and is currently under investigation. 

On the restart there was a rash of improvements in times. Moreau lowered the benchmark to a 1:31.862, with Filipe Albuquerque moving into second with four minutes left.

Marco Bonanomi was unable to set a time having crashed in Turn 3 in the first group. With the Hungaroring limited to a 29 car capacity grid, the Italian may have to rely on Jousse's accident-damaged car being withdrawn to make the starting field.

Combined qualifying positions:

Pos  Driver            Team                 Time
 1.  Guillaume Moreau  KTR                  1:31.862
 2.  Alvaro Barba      Draco Racing         1:32.109  + 0.247
 3.  F.Albuquerque     Epsilon Euskadi      1:32.346  + 0.484
 4.  Fairuz Fauzy      Cram Competition     1:32.462  + 0.600
 5.  B.Baguette        KTR                  1:32.387  + 0.525
 6.  Miguel Molina     Pons Racing          1:32.502  + 0.640
 7.  G.van der Garde   Victory Engineering  1:32.591  + 0.729
 8.  Julien Jousse     Tech 1 Racing        1:32.704  + 0.842
 9.  Milos Pavlovic    Draco Racing         1:32.655  + 0.793
10.  Alvaro Parente    Tech 1 Racing        1:32.733  + 0.871
11.  Sebastian Vettel  Carlin Motorsport    1:32.673  + 0.811
12.  Carlos Iaconelli  Pons Racing          1:32.863  + 1.001
13.  Davide Valsecchi  Epsilon Euskadi      1:32.772  + 0.910
14.  Benjamin Hanley   Prema Powerteam      1:33.010  + 1.148
15.  James Walker      Fortec Motorsport    1:32.773  + 0.911
16.  Alejandro Nunez   Comtec               1:33.184  + 1.322
17.  Michael Herck     Comtec               1:32.831  + 0.969
18.  Richard Philippe  Fortec Motorsport    1:33.214  + 1.352
19.  Salvador Duran    Interwetten.com      1:32.877  + 1.015
20.  Clivio Piccione   RC Motorsport        1:33.319  + 1.457
21.  Charlie Kimball   Victory Engineering  1:33.182  + 1.320
22.  Michael Aleshin   Carlin Motorsport    1:33.326  + 1.464
23.  A.Ciompi          EuroInternational    1:33.290  + 1.428
24.  Jaap van Lagen    EuroInternational    1:33.569  + 1.707
25.  Pippa Mann        Cram Competition     1:33.586  + 1.724
26.  P.Di Sabatino     GD Racing            1:34.131  + 2.269
27.  Ricardo Risatti   GD Racing            1:33.749  + 1.887
28.  Xavier Maassen    Prema Powerteam      1:34.910  + 3.048
29.  Daniel Move       Interwetten.com      1:34.303  + 2.441
30.  Marco Bonanomi    RC Motorsport