Terrien on pole at Brno

The series points leader, visiting the Czech Republic track for the first time, set a time of 1m49.946s round the 5.403km circuit. He was over a second faster than the leading BMS Scuderia Italia car, driven by Marco Zadra and Philipp Peter. Austrian driver Peter, who set the time in the BMS Ferrari, knows the track well, having tested here in the spring.

The Monza winning-R&M Riley & Scott, driven by Mauro Baldi and Gary Formato, will line up third on the grid, after struggling with poor grip throughout the practice sessions. Alongside them will be the GLV Brums Ferrari 333SP, despite Gianni Lavaggi recovering from the flu, and problems finding the right balance for the car.

However, one of the best surprises of qualifying was the fine performance of the Judd-powered Ascari, making its World Cup debut. South African Werner Lupberger, already a pole-setter in the SR2 class this season, put in a stunning performance round the Brno track, and looked certain of third place on the grid before some late improvements put the car back to fifth.

Less happy was the Den Bla Avis team, whose Panoz Spyder LMP only qualified sixth, having struggled with grip problems throughout the weekend. Panoz factory driver Klaus Graf has joined John Nielsen for this event, but their time of 1m53.661s was nearly four seconds off the pole-setter's pace.

Pole in the Lights category went to the Spa overall winners Lucchini Engineering, with Filipo Francioni again putting in an excellent performance in the little Italian-made car, after a spirited battle with the Tampolli and Picchio cars. Second on the grid was the BM Autosport Tampolli, driven by Renato Nobili and Massimo Monti, after having to change their engine after it seized up in the first practice session. Henderson and Mildenhall were fifth in the leading Pilbeam.