Vitaphone dominates Brno qualifying

The Vitaphone Maserati pairing dominated all three sessions of qualifying before Bertolini secured pole with a stunning 1m55.441s.

"Brno is really good for our car, so it's really important we score well this weekend," said Bertolini.

Enrique Bernoldi underlined the MC12's pace around the Czech track by securing second. The ex-Formula 1 racer was the only other driver under 1m56s in the #2 Maserati he shares with Miguel Ramos.

Local star Tomas Enge was best of the rest in the Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DBR9 he will drive with Darren Turner, but Enge was nearly 0.9 seconds off pole.

Michael Krumm starred for the Sumo Power GT Nissan team, going third quickest in Q1 before securing fourth in the final session.

There were three Maseratis in the top eight, but the final session also included an Aston, a Nissan, a Chevrolet Corvette (Xavier Maasen was fifth) and a Lamborghini Murcielago (sixth for Nicky Pastorelli).

There would have been two Lambos in the session, but the Maxim Martin/Bas Leinders example failed to take part after Martin flew off into the gravel in Q2 immediately after setting a time good enough to qualify for Q3. They will therefore start eighth.

Round one winners Romain Grosjean and Thomas Mutsch will start 10th after Mutsch could not make it into the crucial top eight with his late Q2 effort. Former Renault F1 driver Grosjean had already shown the Matech Ford GT's pace, taking fourth in Q1 with a time that would have been good enough for third in the final session.

The main shock of the first session was the fall of Silverstone winners Warren Hughes and Jamie Campbell-Walter in the second Sumo Power Nissan. Hughes did not make the cut after a late effort was only good enough for 21st.

Pos  Drivers                 Team/Car             Time       Session
 1.  Bertolini/Bartels       Vitaphone Maserati   1m55.441s  Q3
 2.  Bernoldi/Ramos          Vitaphone Maserati   1m55.836s  Q3
 3.  Enge/Turner             Young Driver Aston   1m56.304s  Q3
 4.  Krumm/Dumbreck          Sumo Power Nissan    1m56.312s  Q3
 5.  Maassen/Hezemans        Phoenix Corvette     1m56.543s  Q3
 6.  Pastorelli/Schwager     Munnich Lamborghini  1m56.983s  Q3
 7.  Margaritis/Heger        Triple H Maserati    1m56.984s  Q3
 8.  Leinders/Martin         Marc VDS Ford                   Q3
 9.  Makowiecki/Sarrazin     Hexis Aston Martin   1m57.385s  Q2
10.  Grosjean/Mutsch         Matech Ford          1m57.474s  Q2
11.  Bobbi/Longin            Triple H Maserati    1m57.488s  Q2
12.  Rosina/Hennerici        Phoenix Corvette     1m58.291s  Q2
13.  Hirschi/Piccione        Hexis Aston Martin   1m57.686s  Q2
14.  Mucke/Nygaard           Young Driver Aston   1m57.884s  Q2
15.  Wendlinger/Moser        Swiss Nissan         1m58.667s  Q2
16.  Salo/Kuismanen          Mad-Croc Corvette    2m01.575s  Q2
17.  Ara/Nilsson             Swiss Nissan         1m57.649s  Q1
18.  Palttala/Kuppens        Marc VDS Ford        1m57.778s  Q1
19.  Kox/Haase               Reiter Lamborghini   1m57.902s  Q1
20.  Basseng/Jager           Munnich Lamborghini  1m58.141s  Q1
21.  Hughes/Campbell-Walter  Sumo Power Nissan    1m58.599s  Q1
22.  Kechele/Danis           Reiter Lamborghini   1m58.658s  Q1
23.  Frey/Allemann           Matech Ford          2m00.211s  Q1