De Marco claims first F2 pole at Brno

The Italian continued his good form after taking a surprise fifth position in race two at Valencia by claiming the top spot for race one of the second round of the championship at the Czech circuit.

"I really enjoyed the wet conditions," said de Marco. "I've worked very hard to get this place, especially after Valencia, so I'm really happy to have come away with such a strong result.

"The weather has been very strange. I hope to have a good race tomorrow, and then another good qualifying and race on Sunday, but I'm not sure whether I should be hoping for rain or not!"

Mirko Bortolotti secured the other slot on the front row, ahead of Finn Henri Karjalainen.

Free practice pace setter Mikhail Aleshin completes the second row and will start directly behind his fellow Red Bull-backed driver.

Philipp Eng and Edoardo Piscopo rounded out the top six, ahead of Valencia front runners Carlos Iaconelli and Tobias Hegewald.

Expected front runner Andy Soucek and championship leader Robert Wickens were over a second off the pace in ninth and 10th places.

Pos Driver                  Time           Gap
 1. Nicola de Marco         2m03.484s
 2. Mirko Bortolotti        2m03.651s   +0.167
 3. Henri Karjalainen       2m03.667s   +0.183
 4. Mikhail Aleshin         2m03.855s   +0.371
 5. Philipp Eng             2m03.892s   +0.408
 6. Edoardo Piscopo         2m04.251s   +0.767
 7. Carlos Iaconelli        2m04.367s   +0.883
 8. Tobias Hegewald         2m04.389s   +0.905
 9. Andy Soucek             2m04.720s   +1.236
10. Robert Wickens          2m05.109s   +1.625
11. Julien Jousse           2m05.264s   +1.780
12. Milos Pavlovic          2m05.431s   +1.947
13. Tom Gladdis             2m05.468s   +1.984
14. Kazim Vasiliauskas      2m05.722s   +2.238
15. Henry Surtees           2m05.835s   +2.351
16. Jolyon Palmer           2m06.048s   +2.564
17. Jack Clarke             2m06.110s   +2.626
18. Sebastian Hohenthal     2m06.597s   +3.113
19. Armaan Ebrahim          2m08.272s   +4.788
20. German Sanchez          2m08.495s   +5.011
21. Pietro Gandolfi         2m09.253s   +5.769
22. Jason Moore             2m09.709s   +6.225
23. Alex Brundle            2m09.763s   +6.279
24. Jens Hoing              2m13.190s   +9.706
25. Natacha Gachnang        2m13.784s  +10.300