Qualifying: Pantano on pole

Jeffery van Hooydonk set the third fastest time for Astromega, with Ricardo Sperafico fourth fastest for Coloni.

"We've changed the set-up a lot since Imola," said Pantano, who is driving for Durango this season, "and I'm much happier with the car now. I'm just getting used to the team."

Wirdheim was disappointed with his runner-up sport, after being forced to slow for yellow flags on several of his runs and then finding himself blocked by Derek Hill later on in the session.

Following the lead of Patrick Friesacher in Imola, five or six of the top drivers chose not to run in the pre-qualifying practice session, in order to save their tyres for the race, where high tyre-wear is expected to play a large part in determining the final result.

American Phillip Giebler qualified 14th fastest on his F3000 debut with Den Bla Avis, whilst Andre Piccolo, a late entry for the BCN team, was 19th on his first outing in the series.

With the withdrawal of the Brand Motorsports team before the race, the gird was left with just 18 cars, the lowest turn-out since 1985.