Qualifying 2: Sperafico on second row

But he was not quick enough to demote pole winner Sebastien Bourdais and Tomas Enge, whose first session times proved enough to secure the front row.

It marked Bourdais' fifth pole in six races. "The new track seems pretty good, but I'm a bit worried about the start because the first corner is very tight," said the Frenchman. "I just hope all those around me will be sensible."

Enge was a little downbeat to be second best to Bourdais again. "I was again beaten by a quick Frenchman!" he said. "I gave it my all in the second session, but the track just got too slippery.

"I'm disappointed to start on the outside of the grid. It will be difficult to get away on the dirty side and it will be hard to get ahead of Sebastien or even keep my second place."

Coloni duo Enrico Toccacelo and Giorgio Pantano improved their grid positions by going second and fourth in the second session. That means they will start fifth and sixth tomorrow, behind Astromega rookie Rob Nguyen.

Sperafico's Petrobras team-mate Antonio Pizzonia was only sixth fastest in the session and stopped out on the track with a problem towards the end. That meant he slipped from fourth to seventh in the overall times.

American Derek Hill, who is making his return to F3000 this weekend with the Italian Durango team, did a great job to qualify inside the top 10. He was seventh fastest in session two, which puts him ninth on the grid, ahead of team-mate and Interlagos race winner Rodrigo Sperafico.

Ricardo Sperafico Petrobras 1m46.615s
Enrico Toccacelo Coloni 1m46.905s
Tomas Enge Arden 1m46.906s
Giorgio Pantano Coloni 1m46.910s
Sebastien Bourdais Super Nova 1m47.211s
Antonio Pizzonia Petrobras 1m47.340s
Derek Hill Durango 1m47.358s
Ricardo Mauricio Red Bull 1m47.441s
Mario Haberfeld Astromega 1m47.444s
Rob Nguyen Astromega 1m47.455s