Wickens takes race two pole at Imola

The 20-year-old Canadian is racing for second in the standings now that Andy Soucek has wrapped up the title, and pipped rival and fellow Red Bull driver Mirko Bortolotti to the top spot.

Wickens headed the timesheet early in the session but Milos Pavlovic, Philipp Eng and Soucek all had turns at the top before Wickens' decsive effort three minutes from the end. Bortolotti had one last chance to steal pole but could not match Wickens' time on his final lap.

Soucek will start third, alongside Milos Pavlovic, with race one winner Kazim Vasiliauskas fifth.

Mikhail Aleshin, who is Wickens' closest challenger for the runner-up spot in the championship, did well to qualify sixth after spending the majority of the session in the pits with a throttle problem. He got back out in for a run at the end and earned a place on the third row.

Eng was pushed down to seventh, with Tobias Hegewald, Alex Brundle and Edoardo Piscopo completing the top 10.

Julien Jousse - another of Wickens' rivals for second - had a torrid session which included a spin at Acque Minerale and he qualified just 13th.

Nicola de Marco ended the session 17th but will start 22nd after receiving a five-place grid penalty for causing the first-lap accident in yesterday's first race.

Pos  Driver               Time       Gap
 1.  Robert Wickens       1m37.401s
 2.  Mirko Bortolotti     1m37.516s  + 0.115s
 3.  Andy Soucek          1m37.556s  + 0.155s
 4.  Milos Pavlovic       1m37.823s  + 0.422s
 5.  Kazim Vasiliauskas   1m38.002s  + 0.601s
 6.  Mikhail Aleshin      1m38.186s  + 0.785s
 7.  Philipp Eng          1m38.268s  + 0.867s
 8.  Tobias Hegewald      1m38.436s  + 1.035s
 9.  Alex Brundle         1m38.548s  + 1.147s
10.  Edoardo Piscopo      1m38.560s  + 1.159s
11.  Carlos Iaconelli     1m38.717s  + 1.316s
12.  Jack Clarke          1m38.727s  + 1.326s
13.  Julien Jousse        1m38.819s  + 1.418s
14.  Henri Karjalainen    1m38.819s  + 1.418s
15.  German Sanchez       1m38.825s  + 1.424s
16.  Jolyon Palmer        1m38.972s  + 1.571s
17.  Nicola de Marco      1m39.019s  + 1.618s
18.  Jason Moore          1m39.062s  + 1.661s
19.  Tom Gladdis          1m39.372s  + 1.971s
20.  Sebastian Hohenthal  1m39.447s  + 2.046s
21.  Jens Hoing           1m39.496s  + 2.095s
22.  Ollie Hancock        1m39.518s  + 2.117s
23.  Pietro Gandolfi      1m40.588s  + 3.187s
24.  Armaan Ebrahim       1m40.654s  + 3.253s
25.  Natacha Gachnang     1m42.379s  + 4.978s