Qualifying 2: Ricardo's double whammy

The shock of the second session at Jarama was local driver Felix Porteiro, who grabbed a spot on the front row of the grid in his Vergani Racing machine. He was 0.583s behind Zonta, however, who is justifiably confident ahead of tomorrow's races.

"We tested here a month ago and we've improved the set-up since then," said Zonta. "The team is happy, and so am I."

Spain's Antonio Garcia also made a huge performance gain over his first session to take third spot in his Adrian Campos Motorsport car: "I just didn't have the right set-up this morning, and the changes we made for this session gave us third place," he explained.

Series leader Franck Montagny was only fourth quickest, ruing a change on the rear anti-roll bar. He is also battling against a severe cold this weekend, but insists that the amount of practice starts he made in testing last week "will mean I'm in front by the first corner tomorrow".

His Racing Engineering team-mate Justin Wilson also dropped back in the second session, the Briton lacking traction out of the slow corners and slumping to seventh, behind Angel Burgueno (Meycom) and Porteiro's team-mate Andre Couto. Another to suffer was Bas Leinders (KTR), who changed his set-up between sessions and "went in the right direction, but went too far". The Belgian will start ninth.

Valencia star Rafael Sarandeses, who suffered engine problems this morning, went off into the gravel on his new tyres after being forced to take evasive action when baulked by another car at Turn 1, and will start 11th. Also in the wars was Ireland's Damien Faulkner, who was forced to sit out 20 minutes of the session while a gearbox fault was rectified. He salvaged 12th position on the race two grid.





Ricardo Zonta, Gabord Competicion, 1m22.470s
Felix Porteiro, Vergani Racing, 1m23.053s
Antonio Garcia, Adrian Campos Motorsport, 1m23.161s
Franck Montagny, Racing Engineering, 1m23.188s
Angel Burgueno, Meycom, 1m23.246s
Andre Couto, Vergani Racing, 1m23.295s
Justin Wilson, Racing Engineering, 1m23.300s
Narain Karthikeyan, RC Motorsport, 1m23.301s
Bas Leinders, KTR, 1m23.388s
Tuka Rocha, Gabord Competicion, 1m23.495s
Rafael Sarandeses, GD Racing, 1m23.536s
Damien Faulkner, Zele Motorsport, 1m23.554s
Polo Villaamil, Adrian Campos Motorsport, 1m23.582s
Jean-Christophe Ravier, Epsilon by Graff, 1m23.726s
Peter Sundberg, RC Motorsport, 1m23.744s
Nicolas Filiberti, Zele Motorsport, 1m23.942s
Luciano Gomide, KTR, 1m24.038s
Ander Vilarino, Epsilon by Graff, 1m24.105s
Roberto Gonzalez, GD Racing, 1m24.385s
Victor Ordonez, Meycom, 1m24.891s