Spa: Qualifying two report

Clean sweep for Maldonado

Pastor Maldonado (Draco Multiracing USA) secured his second pole of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. For the long race, the Venezuelan will be joined on the front row by Borja Garcia (RC Motorsport), one of his fiercest rivals for the title.

Latest news: Pavlovic's first session qualifying times cancelled

Owner of the best time in group A in the first qualifying session, Milos Pavlovic's (Eurointernational) qualifying times have been cancelled after checks made during Scrutineering. The fuel tank of his Formula Renault 3.5 contained only 0.45 litres of fuel, whereas the regulations require a minimum level of three litres. The Yugoslavian will therefore line up for race one at the back of the start grid. Sebastian Vettel takes his place alongside pole position holder, Pastor Maldonado.

Group B

The fight for the best time very rapidly turned into a duel between Sean McIntosh (KTR) and Pastor Maldonado (Draco Multiracing USA), who was looking to collect his second pole position at the Spa track.

In fact, the Venezuelan was first to record a sub-2'04'' lap today. With a time of 2'03''962, he came very close to the best time set in free practice by Andy Soucek. Soucek himself then grabbed the second best time with six minutes of the session left.

Another consistent performer, Alvaro Parente (Victory Engineering), then pushed McIntosh back into fourth. And the Canadian went on to lose another place in the closing minutes to James Rossiter (Pons Racing).

After crashing off this morning, Alessandro Bonetti (Jenzer) did not take part in this second qualifying session.

Group A

The KTR team mechanics had a race against the clock to change the V6 engine on Robbie Kerr's single-seater. But in the end, the British driver was able take part in the second session.

At the halfway stage, Alx Danielsson (Comtec Racing) sat at the top of the timing screens, but the Swedish driver's best effort was still more than 2/10ths off Maldonado's provisional pole.

Sebastian Vettel (Carlin Motorsport) and Borja Garcia (RC Motorsport) took it in turns to take the group's best time, but neither was able to surpass Maldonado's effort! Danielsson just about held on to his place on row three, despite the efforts of Eric Salignon (Interwetten.com). Mikhail Aleshin (Carlin Motorsport) rounded off the top five.

Pastor Maldonado: "My thoughts are mainly on the championship. Two pole positions mean that I not only score two points, but I also have a good chance of winning both races and setting two fastest race laps! The outcome of the season could well be decided here and at the Nurburgring."

Borja Garcia: "We changed the car's setup between the two sessions and it paid off! I am very happy for the team. We never stopped believing we had a chance and have kept working hard."

Sebastian Vettel: "My first two laps were not really good enough and that's probably when I blew my chance of pole position. The major uncertainty for the weekend is the weather. If it rains, then it will come down to who can stay on the track!"

-renault