Qualifying 1: Enge takes provisional pole

Enge, who lies only nine points behind the Frenchman in the title chase after victory at Silverstone, set his mark early on in the session, and although Super Nova Racing driver Bourdais improved his times as the session went on, he couldn't match the former Prost Grand Prix driver.

Coloni's Giorgio Pantano, who lies third in the points and desperately needs a victory to re-ignite his fading championship hopes, was third fastest, over 0.5s behind Bourdais.

The top six was completed by former British F3 champions Mario Haberfeld and Antonio Pizzonia in fourth and sixth respectively, sandwiching sometime Williams F1 test driver Ricardo Sperafico in fifth.

New boy Thed Bjork, drafted in to replace German F3-bound Ryan Briscoe at reigning F300 champions Nordic Racing, qualified 17th on his series debut.

The session was interrupted by a red flag when Astromega driver Rob Nguyen had a sizeable shunt on one of his qualifying runs. Although he emerged unscathed, the car fared less well and the Australian is unlikely to emerge in the second session to attempt to improve on his provisional 13th position.

The second and final qualifying session for tomorrow's race takes place later this afternoon.



Thomas Enge, Arden International, 1m25.394s
Sebastien Bourdais, Super Nova Racing, 1m25.557s
Giorgio Pantano, Coloni F3000, 1m26.173s
Mario Haberfeld, Team Astromega, 1m26.313s
Ricardo Sperafico, Petrobras Junior, 1m26.341s
Antonio Pizzonia, Petrobras Junior, 1m26.364s
Enrico Toccacelo, Coloni F3000, 1m26.787s
Tiago Monteiro, Super Nova Racing, 1m26.916s
Rodrigo Sperafico, Durango Formula, 1m27.070s
Bjorn Wirdheim, Arden International, 1m27.182s