Tech 1 thrilled with Ricciardo's pole

Abadie's outfit has been entrusted with running Red Bull's junior drivers in FR3.5 in 2010 - and has to push hard to prove to the drinks company that Tech 1 will offer the best situation for its proteges.

"I am happy, and happy for Daniel because six poles in 12 races is good going," said Abadie, whose second car is now occupied by British Formula 3 champion Jean-Eric Vergne after Red Bull dropped previous occupant Brendon Hartley from its development scheme.

Tech 1 has also branched out into GP3 this year, but Abadie said that would be the limit of its expansion for the time being even though there would be an opening in the GP2 field for 2011.

"We have three teams; we are fast in [Formula Renault] 2.0 litres and 3.5, and GP3 is getting better now," he said. "I am really not looking towards GP2 at the moment. It is too soon for the company. To do it you need to be ready. It takes a lot of money, and you need the best best drivers and engineers. If I put my 3.5 engineer into GP2 then I'd need to find someone good for the 3.5 team.

"But I am happy. I really hopes Daniel wins the championship. You know the rules with Red Bull, if you can with the championship you are in a good position to keep a Red Bull seat."

Three of the top four contenders in the Formula Renault 3.5 championship race, Ricciardo, ISR's Esteban Guerrieri and points leader Mikhail Aleshin (Carlin), will occupy the top three grid slots for this afternoon's low-aero configuration race. Should the finishing order remain unchanged, Ricciardo stands to close Aleshin's 11-point advantage to six points.

"It's a good qualifying record, I just need to convert a few more of them [into wins]," said Ricciardo. "It's obviously where I want to be starting.

"Guerrieri and Aleshin are right there, so that's good for keeping me on my feet, I need to remain in front of them at the end of the race."