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Qualifying 1: Zonta blows everyone away

Ricardo Zonta set a searing pace in qualifying for the second Telefonica World Series race weekend of the season, the Brazilian holding over half a second in hand ahead of championship leader Franck Montagny

Zonta lapped his FC Barcelona-backed Gabord Competicion car in 1m22.128s, 0.643s clear of Montagny. In fact, such was his advantage, he recorded four laps good enough for pole.

After a disastrous start to his campaign at Valencia, reigning FIA Formula 3000 champion Justin Wilson was on the pace this time around. The Briton was less than a tenth shy of his Racing Engineering team-mate Montagny, and appears to have sorted out his chassis problems from the opening round.

Bas Leinders, second quickest in free practice in his KTR machine, slipped to fourth in qualifying for race one. He just pipped leading Spaniard Angel Burgueno (Meycom) by 0.004sec for fourth. Polo Villaamil (Adrian Campos Motorsport) was sixth fastest, ahead of Valencia star Rafael Sarandeses (GD Racing), the latter suffering a misfire in the closing moments of the session.

Ireland's Damien Faulkner showed that he deserves a full-time place on the Dallara Nissan grid, setting the ninth fastest time in his Zele Motorsport car, outpacing the highly-rated Narain Karthikeyan (RC Motorsport).

Qualifying for the second race of the double-header meeting starts at 13.40 local time (12.40 BST), and autosport.com will provide continuous updates from Jarama as the weekend unfolds.


Ricardo Zonta, Gabord Competicion, 1m22.128s
Franck Montagny, Racing Engineering, 1m22.771s
Justin Wilson, Racing Engineering, 1m22.832s
Bas Leinders, KTR, 1m22.988s
Angel Burgueno, Meycom, 1m22.992s
Polo Villaamil, Adrian Campos Motorsport, 1m23.220s
Rafael Sarandeses, GD Racing, 1m23.271s
Felix Porteiro, Vergani Racing, 1m23.284s
Damien Faulkner, Zele Motorsport, 1m23.318s
Narain Karthikeyan, RC Motorsport, 1m23.459s
Antonio Garcia, Adrian Campos Motorsport, 1m23.463s
Nicolas Filiberti, Zele Motorsport, 1m23.474s
Luciano Gomide, KTR, 1m23.543s
Tuka Rocha, Gabord Competicion, 1m23.549s
Andre Couto, Vergani Racing, 1m23.585s
Jean-Christophe Ravier, Epsilon by Graff, 1m23.753s
Peter Sundberg, RC Motorsport, 1m24.091s
Ander Vilarino, Epsilon by Graff, 1m24.147s
Roberto Gonzalez, GD Racing, 1m24.598s
Victor Ordonez, Meycom, 1m25.323s

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