Controversial Feature pole for Canada

Wickens, who won his first A1GP event in the last round in Durban, set his fastest time of 1:20.278 despite blatantly doing so under waved yellow flags, after David Garza (Mexico) had lost it under braking for the chicane and slithered into the wall on the approach to Peraltada.

Garza's car stopped against the wall on the left side of the circuit, and a marshal brandishing a waved yellow flag stood to its rear, perilously close to the cars that were completing their laps.

In stark contrast to Wickens' approach, sprint race poleman Adrian Zaugg aborted his lap when he saw the yellows and will start the feature down in 10th position as a result.

"I got confused by the marshal, who was waving me to keep to the right," said Zaugg. "I thought he meant I should come into the pits. It confused me a lot, I must say."

Wickens grabbed the top spot from Neel Jani (Switzerland), who said he backed right off for the yellows.

"I lost at least two or three tenths," Jani said. "I think the stewards need to check that, because you shouldn't improve your sector time under yellows. I'm definitely not happy, because I feel I've lost a pole. I was on for a 1:20-dead."

However, following the session race control decreed that no action would be taken against any drivers regarding the yellow flag situation.

Wickens said: "I did lift a little bit. My car oversteered, so I had to. My front wheels looked close to it [Garza's stranded car], so I knew my rears would be even closer! The car was phenomenal, and it was a pretty good qualifying effort."

Team Germany's Michael Ammermuller will start third after a massive improvement late on, just beating a tightly-bunched pack comprising Oliver Jarvis (GB), Adam Carroll (Ireland), Jonny Reid (New Zealand) and Jonathan Summerton (USA).

Pos  Driver               Team            Time
 1.  Robert Wickens       Canada          1:20.278
 2.  Neel Jani            Switzerland     1:20.320  + 0.042
 3.  Michael Ammermuller  Germany         1:20.646  + 0.368
 4.  Oliver Jarvis        Great Britain   1:20.705  + 0.427
 5.  Adam Carroll         Ireland         1:20.708  + 0.430
 6.  Jonny Reid           New Zealand     1:20.743  + 0.465
 7.  Jonathan Summerton   USA             1:20.783  + 0.505
 8.  Felipe Albuquerque   Portugal        1:20.825  + 0.547
 9.  Cheng Cong Fu        China           1:20.859  + 0.581
10.  Adrian Zaugg         South Africa    1:20.870  + 0.592
11.  Alex Yoong           Malaysia        1:20.939  + 0.661
12.  Edoardo Piscopo      Italy           1:20.953  + 0.675
13.  Jeroen Bleekemolen   Netherlands     1:21.263  + 0.985
14.  Jonathan Cochet      France          1:21.310  + 1.032
15.  John Martin          Australia       1:21.358  + 1.080
16.  Jimmy Auby           Lebanon         1:21.441  + 1.163
17.  Adam Khan            Pakistan        1:21.484  + 1.206
18.  Bruno Junqueira      Brazil          1:21.675  + 1.397
19.  Satrio Hermanto      Indonesia       1:21.788  + 1.510
20.  Narain Karthikeyan   India           1:21.909  + 1.631
21.  Filip Salaquarda     Czech Republic  1:22.333  + 2.055
22.  David Garza          Mexico          1:22.371  + 2.093