Turner takes pole for Aston Martin

Turner, who shares his Young Driver AMR Aston DBR9 with Tomas Enge, ended up second fastest in Q1 and then topped the times when it mattered in Q3. His pole time of 1m57.155s was four tenths of a second quicker than Peter Kox in the best of the Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago R-SVs.

"This is a great turnaround because at the past couple of races we've struggled to make it out of Q3," said Turner. "We've had 20kg taken off for this race [under the balance of performance rules] and it has made a big difference."

Dominik Schwager made it two Lamborghinis in the top three. The All-Inkl.com driver edged out Marc Hennerici's Phoenix/Carsport Chevrolet Corvette by less than one tenth of a second.

Casualties in the first round of qualifying included championship front runner Thomas Mutsch, whose Matech Ford GT was bumped down to 22nd in the closing seconds. The Sumo Power Nissan GT-R driven by Silverstone race winner Warren Hughes also failed to make it through.

Pos  Drivers                 Car           Time       Session
 1.  Turner/Enge             Aston Martin  1m57.155s  Q3
 2.  Kox/Haase               Lamborghini   1m57.596s  Q3
 3.  Schwager/Pastorelli     Lamborghini   1m57.858s  Q3
 4.  Hennerici/Margaritis    Corvette      1m57.916s  Q3
 5.  Bertolini/Bartels       Maserati      1m58.467s  Q3
 6.  Longin/Guidi            Maserati      1m58.688s  Q3
 7.  Zonta/Kechele           Lamborghini   1m59.011s  Q3
 8.  Nygaard/Mucke           Aston Martin             Q3
 9.  Krumm/Dumbreck          Nissan        1m57.991s  Q2
10.  Maassen/Menten          Corvette      1m58.047s  Q2
11.  Prost/Jani              Ford          1m58.253s  Q2
12.  Piccione/Hirschi        Aston Martin  1m58.523s  Q2
13.  Makowiecki/Clairay      Aston Martin  1m58.642s  Q2
14.  Wendlinger/Moser        Nissan        1m59.086s  Q2
15.  Basseng/Jager           Lamborghini   1m59.430s  Q2
16.  Martin/Leinders         Ford          1m59.606s  Q2
17.  Ara/Nilsson             Nissan        1m59.008s  Q1
18.  Ramos/Bernoldi          Maserati      1m59.037s  Q1
19.  Hughes/Campbell-Walter  Nissan        1m59.094s  Q1
20.  Heger/Muller            Maserati      1m59.128s  Q1
21.  Salo/Kuismanen          Corvette      1m59.202s  Q1
22.  Mutsch/Westbrook        Ford          1m59.211s  Q1
23.  Kuppens/Palttala        Ford          1m59.300s  Q1