Wickens takes Spa FR3.5 pole

A late red flag produced a congested final two laps of action, as drivers rushed to make their final set of new tyres count. Wickens set his fastest time of 2m02.855s just 30 seconds before the chequered flag. In doing so, the Carlin driver bumped his team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne from a provisional pole slot.

An even later effort from EPIC Racing's Albert Costa would demote Vergne to third. The Frenchman will share the second row with compatriot Nelson Panciatici (KMP Racing).

Daniel Ricciardo brought out the first red flag when he spun his ISR machine at Le Radillon with seven minutes of the half hour session remaining. The Australian stopped in a precarious position and sustained some damage. Although parked on a grass verge, the Red Bull Junior driver was facing oncoming traffic, on a blind brow, at the exit of one of the circuit's fastest corners.

At the time of the incident, Ricciardo was second fastest with a time of 2m03.519s. The Australian was stripped of his time for causing the stoppage, but his next best effort was just 0.033s slower. Ricciardo will line up in sixth for this afternoon's race, one place behind his 2010 Tech 1 Racing team-mate Brendon Hartley (now with Gravity-Charouz).

The second red flag was caused when Draco's Andre Negrao found the tyre barrier at the tricky downhill Rivage corner. The Brazilian had been on his out-lap on cold tyres as the session restarted from the Ricciardo incident.

Championship leader Alexander Rossi ended the morning in 11th for Fortec. The American's team-mate, and Friday pacesetter, Cesar Ramos could only manage 14th after encountering traffic on his final run.

Pos  Driver               Team             Time       Gap
 1.  Robert Wickens       Carlin           2m02.855s
 2.  Albert Costa         EPIC             2m03.015s  + 0.160s
 3.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Carlin           2m03.240s  + 0.385s
 4.  Nelson Panciatici    KMP              2m03.401s  + 0.546s
 5.  Brendon Hartley      Gravity-Charouz  2m03.520s  + 0.665s
 6.  Daniel Ricciardo     ISR              2m03.552s  + 0.697s
 7.  Daniil Move          P1               2m03.656s  + 0.801s
 8.  Sergio Canamasas     BVM Target       2m03.767s  + 0.912s
 9.  Chris van der Drift  Mofaz            2m03.787s  + 0.932s
10.  Jan Charouz          Gravity-Charouz  2m03.795s  + 0.940s
11.  Alexander Rossi      Fortec           2m03.803s  + 0.948s
12.  Daniel Zampieri      BVM Target       2m03.847s  + 0.992s
13.  Walter Grubmuller    P1               2m03.890s  + 1.035s
14.  Cesar Ramos          Fortec           2m03.965s  + 1.110s
15.  Nathanael Berthon    ISR              2m04.101s  + 1.246s
16.  Jake Rosenzweig      Mofaz            2m04.135s  + 1.280s
17.  Stephane Richelmi    Draco            2m04.136s  + 1.281s
18.  Arthur Pic           Tech 1           2m04.140s  + 1.285s
19.  Kevin Korjus         Tech 1           2m04.168s  + 1.313s
20.  Anton Nebylitskiy    KMP              2m04.430s  + 1.575s
21.  Sten Pentus          EPIC             2m04.492s  + 1.637s
22.  Oliver Webb          Pons             2m04.639s  + 1.784s
23.  Andre Negrao         Draco            2m04.739s  + 1.884s
24.  Daniel McKenzie      Comtec           2m04.908s  + 2.053s
25.  Jean-Karl Vernay     Pons             2m05.015s  + 2.160s
26.  Daniel de Jong       Comtec           2m06.235s  + 3.380s