Parente: Mistake cost me pole

In damp conditions and on wet tyres, Parente was a tenth of a second ahead at the first timing sector on the Hangar Straight. But he locked-up at Vale and ran wide, costing his precious time to Wissel that he was unable to make up.

"It was at the left-hander just before Club," he said. "I locked the right-front and missed the apex, which cost me time all the way down the straight to Abbey. It probably cost me pole."

Former British F3 and Renault World Series champion Parente, whose Porto entry has switched from ATECH (nee Hitech) to Reid Motorsport this year, rued the lack of dry practice time - but still managed to top his qualifying group session.

"It was an interesting session in general," he said. "I hadn't driven it in the dry before today, but it was working well in the dry and the rain. I'm with a new team, so it's all new to me, but it's good to be starting on the front row."