Monza: Qualifying report

Double pole for Porteiro

The front row line-up for race 1 will be a 100% Spanish affair, with Felix Porteiro (Epsilon Euskadi) alongside Adrian Valles (Pons Racing). Felix will also start from pole position in the final race of the season. He will be joined on the front row by surprise package Patrick Pilet (GD Racing).

Session 1

Eric Salignon (Cram Comp0x00e9tition) wasted no time in taking the best time with a lap of 1'37''009. The fight for pole position was then disrupted as Richard Antinucci (Victory Engineering) and Pastor Maldonado (Dams) went off in quick succession. The action did not heat up again until the last two minutes of the session. Colin Fleming (Jenzer Motorsport) and then Felix Porteiro (Epsilon Euskadi) took it in turns to improve the best time. Tristan Gommendy (KTR) then relegated Salignon to 4th position. In accordance with the penalty he was handed at Donington, Eric will have to move back ten places on the start grid. He will thus start on row nine.

In group B, Patrick Pilet (GD Racing) was the first to dip under the 1'37'' mark. Adrian Valles (Pons Racing) hit back with five minutes to go, but was unable to better Porteiro's time. The session was then interrupted when Christian Montanari (Draco Multiracing USA) went off the track in a violent crash. Once the tyre wall had been repaired, the session resumed for a little over three minutes. The driver order did not change again: Valles will start on the front row alongside fellow Spaniard Porteiro. These two will be followed by Pilet, Giorgio Mondini (Carlin Motorsport), Ryan Sharp (Jenzer Motorsport) and Celso Miguez (Pons Racing), leaving the Champion, Robert Kubica (Epsilon Euskadi), back on row 6.

Session 2

Adrian Valles was the fastest man on the track during the first few laps, but Patrick Pilet hit back, taking provisional pole with seven minutes gone. He was followed by Robert Kubica, Celso Miguez and Andreas Zuber. Zuber then went off, resulting in the yellow flags being shown for a short period. With two minutes to go, the driver order was still unchanged and would remain as such until the end of the session.J Matteo Meneghello (Eurointernational) led the second session until Milos Pavlovic (GD Racing) crashed off. Once the yellow flags had been withdrawn, Eric Salignon (Cram Comp0x00e9tition) improved his time and was thus the first to dip under the 1'37'' mark. The French contingent was clearly on form, as Tristan Gommendy pushed Meneghello back into third position. But Colin Fleming and then Felix Porteiro moved ahead of Salignon: the Spanish driver thus collected his fourth pole position of the season.

Felix Porteiro: 0xb274's a good day for the team. There's not much else to say, really. The car was perfect and I drove well. And if we can be quick in qualifying, then there's no reason why we can't be quick in the races. I hope to finish my season with three good races, two here added to my win in Estoril.0xa281drian Valles: 0xb267ll have to get off to two good starts tomorrow to then try and get away from the field with Felix. It's good to be in front of Tristan (Gommendy) and Markus (Winkelhock) in the fight for second place in the championship.0xa290atrick Pilet: 0xb1afur months ago, I didn't have a drive. GD Racing gave me a chance and I'm happy to reward their faith in me by getting this first result. We made a completely different choice of aerodynamic set-up compared to our rivals. I hope to finish on the podium in both races

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