Valles takes Superleague pole in Italy

Spaniard Valles, who had only been fourth quickest in his qualifying group, took on the AC Milan car of Robert Doornbos in the head-to-head showdown and, electing to drop well behind on his out-lap, delivered pole in a time of 1:21.855.

Valles had previously beaten Tuka Rocha in the semi-finals, the Brazilian giving Flamengo their best Superleague grid spot in fourth. It could have been even better for him though had he not mysteriously slowed and allowed Valles by coming out of the final corner of the lap.

Doornbos, who set the quickest time of the weekend in the penultimate shoot-out session, also overtook his rival, Davide Rigon in the championship-leading Beijing Guoan car, in his semi-final. The Dutchman's final time was 0.260 seconds slower than that of Valles.

The quarter-finals threw up a few surprises, the biggest coming in the opening heat when Corinthians Antonio Pizzonia - the pace-setter in qualifying Group A - was beaten by Valles and resigned to eighth spot on the grid.

Ahead of him, but failing to make the semi-finals, were Roma's Franck Perera, Anderlecht's Craig Dolby - the best of the British drivers in sixth - and Galatasaray's Alessandro Pierguidi.

Prior to the shoot-out, there was excitement in the two 15-minute qualifying groups. The entertainment in Group A was provided by Doornbos, who had lay outside the top four positions for the entire session before popping up with P2 on his final flyer and knocking Atletico Madrid's Andy Soucek out.

Group B was red flagged after five minutes, Enrico Toccacelo having nosed into the tyres at the ultra-tight Tornantino hairpin, removed his car's front wing and stalled the engine. But the real action came at the end of the session as Valles and Rocha both took turns at the top in the final 90 seconds before Rigon - the early pace-setter, re-asserted himself at the end.

The Al Ain car missed qualifying. Driver Paul Meijer had x-rays on an injured hand after a practice crash, which confirmed he had no broken bones. It remains to be seen whether he will be passed fit to race.

The grid:

Pos  Team                Driver                 Time
 1.  Liverpool           Adrian Valles          1:21.855
 2.  AC Milan            Robert Doornbos        1:22.115
 3.  Beijing Guoan       David Rigon            1:23.907
 4.  Flamengo            Tuka Rocha             1:30.010
 5.  Galatasaray         Alessandro Pierguidi   1:22.771
 6.  Anderlecht          Craig Dolby            1:22.645
 7.  Roma                Franck Perera          1:21.998
 8.  Corinthians         Antonio Pizzonia       1:22.627
 9.  Atletico Madrid     Andy Soucek            1:22.833
10.  Rangers             Ryan Dalziel           1:23.498
11.  PSV Eindhoven       Yelmer Buurman         1:23.229
12.  Basel               Max Wissel             1:23.464
13.  Tottenham Hotspur   Duncan Tappy           1:24.345
14.  Sevilla             Borja Garcia           1:23.758
15.  Porto               Tristan Gommendy       1:24.516
16.  Olympiakos          Stamatis Katimis       1:24.661
17.  Al Ain              Paul Meijer             No Time
18.  Borussia Dortmund   Enrico Toccacelo        No Time