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Martin puts Beijing on pole at Jarama

In a week of footballing upsets, Superleague Formula continued the theme with John Martin grabbing pole position at Jarama for Beijing Guoan

Martin recovered from a deficit in the first sector to power past AC Milan's Yelmur Buurman in the head-to-head qualifying final. It was Martin's first pole in the series.

Martin advanced to the final with a convincing win over the Basel entry of Max Wissel in the first semi-final. In the second encounter, Buurman swept aside Chris van der Drift (Olympiacos), although his lap was a tenth down on Martin's effort.

In contrast to the national football team, both English drivers made it comfortably through to the quarter finals - but that was as far as they got. A left-front lock-up cost Craig Dolby (Tottenham) as he went head-to head with Docking 'team-mate' Martin, while just 0.01s was the difference between Buurman and the defeated James Walker (Liverpool). Van der Drift took an easy win over Sebastien Bourdais' Lyon entry, and Wissel knocked out Franck Perera (Flamengo).

Martin set the fastest time in the group stages, topping Group A with a lap of 1m28.891s, almost 0.3s faster than Buurman needed to win Group B.

On paper, B seemed the tougher of the two, with Borja Garica (Sporting Lisbon), Franck Montagny (Bordeaux), Narain Karthikeyan (PSV), Alvaro Parente (Porto) and Tristan Gommendy (Galatasaray) all failing to make the cut.

In A, Julian Jousse (Roma), Robert Doornbos (Corinthians), Marcos Martinez (Sevilla), series one champ Davide Rigon (Anderlecht) and Maria de Villota (Atletico Madrid) missed out.

Pos  Driver               Team                        Time
 1.  John Martin          Beijing Guoan               1m21.329s
 2.  Yelmer Buurman       AC Milan                    1m21.583s
 3.  Chris van der Drift  Olympiacos                  1m21.979s
 4.  Max Wissel           FC Basel                    1m21.500s
 5.  Franck Perera        Flamengo                    1m21.791s
 6.  Sebastien Bourdais   Olympique Lyonnais          1m22.333s
 7.  James Walker         Liverpool FC                1m22.287s
 8.  Craig Dolby          Tottenham Hotspur           1m22.049s
 9.  Julien Jousse        AS Roma                     1m21.695s
10.  Alvaro Parente       FC Porto                    1m21.562s
11.  Robert Doornbos      Corinthians                 1m21.852s
12.  Franck Montagny      Girondins de Bordeaux       1m21.650s
13.  Marcos Martinez      Sevilla FC                  1m22.139s
14.  Narain Karthikeyan   PSV Eindhoven               1m22.011s
15.  Davide Rigon         RSC Anderlecht              1m22.233s
16.  Borja Garcia         Sporting Clube de Portugal  1m22.353s
17.  Maria de Villota     Atletico de Madrid          1m23.079s
18.  Tristan Gommendy     Galatasaray                 1m22.399s

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