Piccione leads all-RC front row

Marco Bonanomi qualified fastest in group A, the Italian's last lap edging out championship leader Alvaro Parente by a tenth of a second. Parente will drop five places on the grid courtesy of a penalty imposed on the Portuguese in the last round at Donington Park.

Ben Hanley, Parente's title rival, will start third, having survived a scare when his Prema team released him from his pit garage into the path of Julian Theobald. Damage to Hanley's car was limited to a bent steering arm.

Davide Valsecchi moves up to fourth spot as consequence of Parente's descent from the front. Fairuz Fauzy and Dutchman Giedo van der Garde complete the third row.

"I've had a few poles in Formula Three, but this feels great," said Piccione. "The lap was on the limit. Yesterday in practice didn't fill me with confidence, but the team changed a couple of things, tried different directions with the set-up for me and Marco and they both seem to work.

"We don't want a repeat of iSport's start here in GP2 (where Andreas Zuber and Timo Glock crashed within metres of the start). Perhaps if one of us is ahead at the first corner the other will be sensible, but there will be no team strategy. We're racing, as long as we're fair it should be fine."

Bonanomi became the first driver to dip under the 1:27 mark at the mid-point of the A session, overhauling Tech 1's Parente, who had set the early running. Carlin's Michael Ammermueller displaced Bonanomi's time with five minutes remaining, but the German failed to hold on to the top spot for long. A minute later Filipe Albuquerque and van der Garde had moved into first and second positions.

Parente, who had been bumped out of the top six, responded with two fast laps in succession to break into the 1:25s. With the chequered flag out, Parente's points for pole position looked safe even if Bonanomi, lying in second on a 1:26.147, would start from the front row once the points leader had taken his penalty. However, the Italian decided to complete the job on the track, and his last gasp effort produced the required three tenths to move ahead.

"Yesterday I had a problem with my eye," said Bonanomi. "I only did five laps in the morning practice, and then I had to go to hospital to have some grit removed from it. We need to have a good result for myself and the team, so perhaps in the briefing we will discuss the start with Clivio."

Piccione hit the ground running in the B session, the Monegasque only losing his provisional fastest time when Pons Racing's Miguel Molina moved ahead after twelve minutes.

Carlin's Mikhail Aleshin took a turn at the top of the timesheets, but like Parente will drop five places on the grid for his part in an accident at Donington.

Aleshin's performance was overshadowed in the closing stages by the battle between Piccione and Hanley, as the pair traded fastest times. Piccione put an end to the dispute by setting the pole time with a minute left on the clocks, as Hanley was left to fend off the attentions of Fauzy.

Hanley was cleared by the stewards of weaving in front of Fairuz, but the Englishman was required to pay a 500 Euro fine for the incident with Theobald.

"We know we're strong in races, it's just good to start from the front at last," said Hanley.

"Yesterday I had the ideal fastest lap, but I couldn't set it because of the red flags. The car could have been a tenth faster, but unfortunately the team called me out a fraction too soon from the pit and I hit Theobald.

"The steering arm was bent so it could have been better. If I can move from 12th to third at Hungary I am sure I can pass here."

Pos  Driver            Team                   Time
 1.  Clivio Piccione   RC Motorsport          1:25.831
 2.  Marco Bonanomi    RC Motorsport          1:25.856  + 0.025
 3.  Benjamin Hanley   Prema Powerteam        1:25.939  + 0.108
 4.  Alvaro Parente    Tech 1 Racing          1:25.969  + 0.138
 5.  Fairuz Fauzy      Cram Competition       1:26.039  + 0.208
 6.  Davide Valsecchi  Epsilon Euskadi        1:26.101  + 0.270
 7.  Mikhail Aleshin   Carlin Motorsport      1:26.233  + 0.402
 8.  G.van der Garde   Victory Engineering    1:26.149  + 0.318
 9.  Miguel Molina     Pons Racing            1:26.236  + 0.405
10.  F.Albuquerque     Epsilon Euskadi        1:26.186  + 0.355
11.  Milos Pavlovic    International Draco    1:26.271  + 0.440
12.  Carlos Iaconelli  Pons Racing            1:26.334  + 0.503
13.  Salvador Durán    Interwetten.com        1:26.413  + 0.582
14.  Julien Jousse     Tech 1 Racing          1:26.404  + 0.573
15.  B.Baguette        KTR                    1:26.432  + 0.601
16.  James Walker      Fortec Motorsport      1:26.496  + 0.665
17.  Charlie Kimball   Victory Engineering    1:26.526  + 0.695
18.  M.Ammermuller     Carlin Motorsport      1:26.514  + 0.683
19.  Guillaume Moreau  KTR                    1:26.723  + 0.892
20.  Alejandro Nunez   Red Devil Team Comtec  1:26.577  + 0.746
21.  E.Guerrieri       Fortec Motorsport      1:26.789  + 0.958
22.  Alvaro Barba      International Draco    1:26.811  + 0.980
23.  Daniel Move       Interwetten.com        1:27.104  + 1.273
24.  Pippa Mann        Cram Competition       1:27.119  + 1.288
25.  A.Ciompi          EuroInternational      1:27.171  + 1.340
26.  Michael Herck     Red Devil Team Comtec  1:27.177  + 1.346
27.  P.Di Sabatino     GD Racing              1:27.277  + 1.446
28.  Luiz Razia        GD Racing              1:27.277  + 1.446
29.  Julian Theobald   EuroInternational      1:29.256  + 3.425
30.  Xavier Maassen    Prema Powerteam        1:27.535  + 1.704