Qualifying 2: Bourdais grabs pole

The Super Nova driver traded fastest times with Mario Haberfeld throughout the first half of the 40-minute session, but his lap of 1m26.056s settled the matter for good.

"It was really slippery out there," said Bourdais. "As soon as you pushed too hard you just went off line immediately. But the grip just kept on improving until the middle of the session and then it just stayed the same.

"Obviously it's a great way to start, but we'll see what happens tomorrow."

Enge made a late challenge for pole but the pre-season favourite had to settle for second spot.

"I'm slightly disappointed," he admitted, "but I guess it's a good position to get on the podium or even win the race from. The most important thing in these early races is just to score points, however."

Haberfeld eventually had to settle for third. Fellow Brazilian Rodrigo Sperafico was fourth, while Bjorn Wirdheim was fifth. Enrico Toccacelo made a big improvement over his earlier time to leap up from 11th to sixth, but Patrick Friesacher went in the opposite direction. His team was unable to repair his damaged car after he crashed in the first session and he dropped back to 17th.

Zsolt Baumgartner was another driver to crash in the opening session and like Friesacher he too failed to put up another time and will start from the final grid position.

For full qualifying session 2 results, click here.