Pantano on Pole

Pantano's lap of 1:43.862 came in the opening minutes of the session, while Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen claimed second and third respectively with just two minutes remaining, ending an eventful qualifying session.

This morning's fastest man, Gianmaria Bruni, was expected to push for pole, and so it seemed early in the session - he was second fastest at the circuit he claims as his favourite, and was looking to go even faster on his second set of tyres when disaster struck - he spun at the last corner of his hot lap and was beached deep in the gravel.

Bruni was not the only man to spin - Olivier Pla, teammate Ryan Sharp and Hiroki Yoshimoto all fell off the circuit late in the session, with Pla's spin causing mayhem by destroying a number of hot laps for the other drivers, as he spent vital minutes trying to get restarted at the chicane, all the while surrounded by waved yellow flags.

Despite this, the field was remarkably close - the top three drivers are split by just one tenth of a second; the top thirteen drivers are covered by one second; and the top twenty are within two seconds of pole.

Pos  Driver      Team                      Time              Laps
 1.  Pantano     Super Nova International  1:43.862           13
 2.  Rosberg     ART Grand Prix            1:43.939 + 0.077   13
 3.  Kovalainen  Arden International       1:43.965 + 0.103    9
 4.  Bruni       Coloni Motorsport         1:44.128 + 0.266    6
 5.  Jani        Racing Engineering        1:44.176 + 0.314    9
 6.  Lopez       DAMS                      1:44.266 + 0.404   12
 7.  Viso        BCN Competicion           1:44.477 + 0.615   10
 8.  Premat      ART Grand Prix            1:44.598 + 0.736   13
 9.  Lapierre    Arden International       1:44.739 + 0.877   11
10.  Yoshimoto   BCN Competicion           1:44.748 + 0.886   10
11.  Speed       iSport International      1:44.865 + 1.003    9
12.  Pla         DPR                       1:44.879 + 1.017    9
13.  Carroll     Super Nova International  1:44.914 + 1.052   13
14.  Piquet Jr.  Hitech Piquet Sports      1:45.331 + 1.469   12
15.  Sharp       DPR                       1:45.463 + 1.601   11
16.  Piccione    Durango                   1:45.523 + 1.661   14
17.  Alvarez     Campos Racing             1:45.550 + 1.688   11
18.  Garcia      Racing Engineering        1:45.661 + 1.799   13
19.  Monfardini  Durango                   1:45.789 + 1.927   12
20.  Negrao      Hitech Piquet Sports      1:45.946 + 2.084   13
21.  Hernandez   Campos Racing             1:46.429 + 2.567   12
22.  Artam       iSport International      1:46.503 + 2.641   11
23.  Lauda       Coloni Motorsport         1:46.656 + 2.794   11
24.  Fauzy       DAMS                      1:47.266 + 3.404   15