Qualifying 2: Huisman remains on top

Huisman had been hopeful that his time from Thursday's first qualifying session would be good enough to hold onto the top spot, but he quickly found out that his rivals would eclipse him. In the end, his advantage was 0.185s.

"It always looks easy but Jorg has won the Formula 3 race here before, so I knew I would have to push hard," said Huisman, who was confident BMW would be able to maintain their advantage in Sunday's double-header.

"In the beginning of the race I think the Alfa Romeos will be able to put some pressure on us, but after a few laps I think they will begin to drop off. They are long races on Sunday, but it is all about the second heat. I only want to win the second one - that is why I am here."

Muller was delighted with his second position, having moved into that position with 15 minutes of the session remaining and overcoming a strong challenge from the Alfa Romeo duo of Nicola Larini and Gabriele Tarquini.

Although Tarquini only set the fourth quickest time in qualifying, he secured the third position on the grid after team-mate Larini was handed a two-second penalty on his quickest qualifying lap as a punishment for crashing under a yellow flag on Thursday. His second best time was still good enough for fourth on the grid.

Toyota's Nobuteru Taniguchi secured fourth position on the grid, while local hero Andre Couto was disappointed to have only qualified fifth after being eliminated from the session in a collision with Peter Scharmach, who lines up sixth.

British American Racing test driver Anthony Davidson qualified a disappointing 14th after his car developed a problem and he was forced to stop out on the circuit.