Wickens on pole for FR3.5 return

The Canadian has filled the seat vacated by outgoing champion Mikhail Alehsin at Carlin, and Wickens got the team's 2011 title defence off to a perfect start by recording a fastest lap of 1m42.901s.

In a tightly contested session, American Alexander Rossi finished just 0.029 seconds adrift of the Marussia-backed Wickens in second place. The Fortec driver held the fastest time until being demoted by Wickens with just one minute of the half-hour session remaining.

Series veteran Daniil Move went some way to banishing the memory of a disappointing 2010 season by taking an excellent third on his return to P1 Motorsport. The Russian has good form at the Spanish venue, having taken a podium at the circuit on his last outing with Roly Vincini's team in 2009.

Sergio Canamasas took the award for most dramatically improved performer. The Spaniard claimed fourth for series debutant - and Italian Formula 3 stalwart - BVM Target. Canamasas had a lacklustre 2010, failing to score a point with the now departed Austrian team FHV Interwetten.

Formula Renault Eurocup champion Kevin Korjus took an impressive fifth for Tech 1 Racing, ahead of Friday morning's pacesetter Nelson Panciatici.

Nathanael Berthon had set the early running, becoming the session's first leader with a representative effort of 1m44.196s. But the Frenchman later caused the session to be red-flagged by spinning his ISR machine into the gravel at the left-hand Turn 5 and becoming beached. As a result, Berthon's fastest time was deleted and he will start 23rd on the grid for this afternoon's opening race.

Compatriot Jean-Eric Vergne was tasked with jumping into qualifying without the benefit of having driven in Friday's two 75-minute practice sessions. The Carlin British Formula 3 champion languished in an unfamiliar 15th place, having travelled to Spain directly after participating in priority Red Bull Formula 1 simulator work in Milton Keynes.

Several drivers had dusty, off-track, moments. Berthon's temporary ISR team-mate Lewis Williamson, EPIC's Sten Pentus and Fortec's Cesar Ramos all had minor incidents sampling Motorland Aragon's wide Tarmac run-off areas, but were able to continue.

Pos  Driver               Team             Time       Gap
 1.  Robert Wickens       Carlin           1m42.901s
 2.  Alexander Rossi      Fortec           1m42.930s  + 0.029s
 3.  Daniil Move          P1               1m43.021s  + 0.120s
 4.  Sergio Canamasas     BVM Target       1m43.028s  + 0.127s
 5.  Kevin Korjus         Tech 1           1m43.066s  + 0.165s
 6.  Nelson Panciatici    KMP              1m43.134s  + 0.233s
 7.  Albert Costa         EPIC             1m43.288s  + 0.387s
 8.  Brendon Hartley      Gravity-Charouz  1m43.301s  + 0.400s
 9.  Walter Grubmuller    P1               1m43.305s  + 0.404s
10.  Lewis Williamson     ISR              1m43.407s  + 0.506s
11.  Sten Pentus          EPIC             1m43.435s  + 0.534s
12.  Daniel Zampieri      BVM Target       1m43.448s  + 0.547s
13.  Arthur Pic           Tech 1           1m43.462s  + 0.561s
14.  Chris van der Drift  Mofaz            1m43.464s  + 0.563s
15.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Carlin           1m43.513s  + 0.612s
16.  Cesar Ramos          Fortec           1m43.526s  + 0.625s
17.  Stephane Richelmi    Draco            1m43.560s  + 0.659s
18.  Jake Rosenzweig      Mofaz            1m43.683s  + 0.782s
19.  Anton Nebylitskiy    KMP              1m43.690s  + 0.789s
20.  Andre Negrao         Draco            1m43.750s  + 0.849s
21.  Jan Charouz          Gravity-Charouz  1m43.824s  + 0.923s
22.  Oliver Webb          Pons             1m43.858s  + 0.957s
23.  Nathanael Berthon    ISR              1m43.991s  + 1.090s
24.  Daniel McKenzie      Comtec           1m44.032s  + 1.131s
25.  Daniel de Jong       Comtec           1m44.134s  + 1.233s
26.  Dominic Storey       Pons             1m44.195s  + 1.294s