Qualifying 2: Enge makes it stick

Title leader Sebastien Bourdais could only qualify sixth. With just five points between the pair, a victory on Saturday could possibly push Enge ahead of the Frenchman.

Every driver bar Durango's Rodrigo Sperafico and PSM's Tony Schmidt improved their times in the second of the two sessions (Schmidt crashed in the first session).

But Enge always looked good for pole. He sat in the pits after lowering his mark as he tried to save his third set of tyres for the race. But when Coloni duo Enrico Toccacelo and Giorgio Pantano began to threaten, Enge was forced to come out and defend his place.

As it turned out, Enge need not have worried. The Coloni pair could not beat his time. To Pantano's chagrin, Toccacelo pushed the Italian down to third - but at least Giorgio will start on the clean side of the track.

With Ricardo Sperafico fourth, Bourdais looked set for fifth - not good, but at least with the clean track advantage at the start, which really counts at the dusty Hungaroring. But in the final minutes Ricardo Mauricio bumped him down to sixth and on to the dirty side. It could prove to be diasterous for the Super Nova driver's title hopes.

Tomas Enge Arden 1m28.120s
Enrico Toccacelo Coloni 1m28.231s
Giorgio Pantano Coloni 1m28.234s
Ricardo Sperafico Petrobras 1m28.464s
Ricardo Mauricio Red Bull 1m28.594s
Sebastien Bourdais Super Nova 1m28.959s
Mario Haberfeld Astromega 1m28.961s
Antonio Pizzonia Petrobras 1m28.961s
Bjorn Wirdheim Arden 1m29.037s
Tiago Monteiro Super Nova 1m29.135s
Rob Nguyen Astromega 1m29.373s
Patrick Friesacher 1m29.578s
Nicolas Kiesa PSM 1m29.641s
Zsolt Baumgartner Nordic 1m29.982s
Derek Hill Durango 1m30.104s
Justin Keen European 1m30.421s
Rodrigo Sperafico Durango 1m30.804s
Kristian Kolby European 1m30.575s
Thed Bjork Nordic 1m31.370s
Tony Schmidt PSM no time