Corinthians takes Magny-Cours pole

Pizzonia was ahead right from the first sector, increasing a 0.156s advantage to 0.414s by sector two. He lost time in the final section of the track, but had enough in hand to win by 0.299s with his lap time of 1:26.555s.

In semi-final one, Pizzonia beat Craig Dolby's Tottenham car despite a big lock-up at the Adelaide hairpin. Pizzonia was still over 1s up on the Briton, who promptly spun at Chateau d'Eau to settle the matter.

In the second semi, Valles easily swept past Yelmer Buurman (Anderlecht) by eight-tenths, although Buurman's time was actually quicker than final qualifier Pizzonia.

In the quarter-finals, Pizzonia beat fellow Brazilian ex-Formula 1 racer Enrique Bernoldi (Flamengo), while Valles got a bye when Hitech team-mate Kasper Andersen (FC Midtjylland) failed to run.

The third quarter-final ended in hilarious fashion, as Buurman went off at Chateau d'Eau. Rival Tristan Gommendy (FC Porto) passed him and, thinking it was all over, erroneously headed for the pits! Only at the last second did he realise the tie wasn't over, and swerved back onto the track, cut the chicane and won by 4s. But the stewards took a dim view of this action, and put Buurman through to the semis.

The last quarter was a good fight between Dolby and Rangers' John Martin, which the Tottenham car shaded by a couple of tenths.

In the group sessions, that define the head-to-head knock-outs, Valles topped the first session, beating Dolby by two-tenths on his second flying lap. Buurman and Bernoldi also made it through, but the efforts of those trying to get into the vital top four spots spun off.

First, Pedro Petiz spun Sporting Lisbon's car to a halt at the final chicane, then Ho-Pin Tung rotated at Imola - effectively ending the session two minutes early due to yellow flags. Both were summoned to the race director's office to explain themselves. Also out went Al Ain (Miguel Molina), Lyon (Nelson Panciatici, also summoned to see the stewards) and Roma (Jonathan Kennard).

In Group B, Pizzonia set a 1m26.391s to head Gommendy and Martin. A fantastic battle for the final spot was resolved in favour of Anderson by just 0.032s over last year's champion Davide Rigon, who is now driving for Olympiacos.

Also out in the first round was Max Wissel (Basel), Duncan Tappy (Galatasaray), Dominick Muermans (PSV) and AC Milan's Giorgio Pantano, who completed a couple of slow laps with a malfunctioning gearshift system that stranded him at the foot of the times.

Pos  Driver             Team                Time
 1.  Antonio Pizzonia   Corinthians         1m26.555s
 2.  Adrian Valles      Liverpool           1m26.854s
 3.  Yelmer Buurman     Anderlecht          1m27.275s
 4.  Craig Dolby        Tottenham Hotspur   1m47.696s
 5.  John Martin        Rangers             1m26.982s
 6.  Tristan Gommendy   FC Porto            1m31.918s
 7.  Enrique Bernoldi   Flamengo            1m28.909s
 8.  Davide Rigon       Olympiacos          1m27.191s
 9.  Ho-Pin Tung        Atletico Madrid     1m27.574s
10.  Maximilian Wissel  FC Basel            1m27.223s
11.  Pedro Petiz        Sporting            1m27.686s
12.  Duncan Tappy       Galatasaray         1m27.386s
13.  Miguel Molina      Al Ain              1m27.909s
14.  Dominick Muermans  PSV Eindhoven       1m30.051s
15.  Nelson Panciatici  Olympique Lyonnais  1m28.129s
16.  Giorgio Pantano    AC Milan
17.  Kasper Andersen    FC Midtylland
18.  Jonathan Kennard   AS Roma             1m28.968s