Pantano takes pole at Valencia

The Racing Engineering star lapped the new European Grand Prix venue in 1:45.640, grabbing the top spot away from renowned street circuit expert Pastor Maldonado in the dying seconds of the session.

It was a thrilling duel for pole because the circuit gave up more and more grip as the session unfolded. Pantano set the early pace with a 1:46.228, but Romain Grosjean topped that with a 1:46.010 with seven minutes remaining.

Pantano took it back with a 1:45.757, only for Maldonado to hit the top spot with a 1:45.711 with just 90 seconds remaining on the clock. But Pantano wasn't to be denied his two points and with 45 seconds to go he unleashed his 1:45.640, which nobody was able to beat.

Maldonado will start second for Piquet Sports, not a bad effort considering he crashed in free practice, ahead of Campos driver Vitaly Petrov. Grosjean (ART) slipped to fourth, not helped when Adrian Valles ruined his last lap quite comprehensively, while Andi Zuber could only manage fifth in the second Piquet-run car.

Jerome d'Ambrosio will start sixth for DAMS, ahead of Sebastien Buemi (Arden), Bruno Senna (iSport), Mike Conway (Trident) and Luca Filippi (Arden).

Senna also had one of his best laps ruined by Valles, and will have a lot of work to do from seven places behind the man he needs to topple if he's to win the title. He has now slipped nine points behind Pantano in the title race.

His teammate Karun Chandhok, who was third in free practice, could only recover to 12th position after a spin at Turn Five. That treacherous corner also claimed Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS), who smote the wall and removed two corners from his car. He was unhurt, but the session had to be stopped while his car was removed.

Pos Driver              Team                   Time         Gap
 1. Giorgio Pantano     Racing Engineering     1:45.640
 2. Pastor Maldonado    Piquet Sports          1:45.711	 +0.071
 3. Vitaly Petrov       Campos                 1:45.802	 +0.162
 4. Romain Grosjean     ART                    1:46.010	 +0.370
 5. Andi Zuber	        Piquet Sports          1:46.090	 +0.450
 6. Jerome d'Ambrosio   DAMS                   1:46.254	 +0.614
 7. Sebastien Buemi     Arden                  1:46.372	 +0.732
 8. Bruno Senna	        iSport                 1:46.529	 +0.889
 9. Mike Conway         Trident                1:46.592	 +0.952
10. Luca Filippi        Arden                  1:46.603	 +0.963
11. Lucas di Grassi     Campos                 1:46.607	 +0.967
12. Karun Chandhok      iSport                 1:46.657	 +1.017
13. Álvaro Parente      Super Nova             1:46.763	 +1.123
14. Javier Villa        Racing Engineering     1:46.813	 +1.173
15. Andy Soucek	        Super Nova             1:46.949	 +1.309
16. Adrian Valles       BCN                    1:47.102	 +1.462
17. Roldan Rodriguez    FMS                    1:47.269	 +1.629
18. Sakon Yamamoto      ART                    1:47.270	 +1.630
19. Davide Valsecchi    Durango                1:47.374	 +1.734
20. Diego Nunes	        DPR                    1:47.756	 +2.116
21. Marko Asmer	        FMS                    1:47.854	 +2.214
22. Ho-Pin Tung	        Trident                1:48.030	 +2.390
23. Alberto Valerio     Durango                1:48.179	 +2.539
24. Carlos Iaconelli    BCN                    1:48.249	 +2.609
25. Kamui Kobayashi     DAMS                   1:48.469	 +2.829
26. Michael Herck       DPR                    1:48.620	 +2.980