A wet track before the session started - and steady rain falling as the lights went green - meant full wet tyres were the only option as all twenty-two cars streamed out of the pit lane, acutely aware of the impending rain-storm that the weather forecasters were predicting.
It was the usual man up front to start with as Enrique Ruiz took charge, but débutante Johan Halvosen soon shocked with a time four tenths faster than the reigning champion. As the cars circulated the lap times dropped considerably, and with a brief gap in the weather, the track began to dry. This was enough for a few and amongst others, Davenport, Beyer, Dwyer, Powers, Hoskins and Harding dived for the pits to risk the Intermediate tyres. As Hoskins slid off at crawling pace at turn two, it looked like the wrong call, but a purple first sector from James Harding was enough to convince them to preserve, and indeed bring everyone else in. Davenport was the first man to topple Halvosen but was swiftly knocked off the top spot by Felix Beyer, the Dutchman posting a time of 1:57.345, six tenths clear of the FUN driver. Dwyer came through next to take second, but soon lost it to Downton's Nathaniel Powers, who ended up a tenth and half down on Beyer as - despite setting purple times in the first two sectors - had to catch a hairy moment at the final corner. Behind him however, former team mate Hoskins nailed the final corner, and took the top spot with a time of 1:57.141, a time that would soon see him claim pole. James Harding slotted himself into sixth between Davenport and Halvosen as the heavens opened and torrential rain began to fall. For those who had made a late call for Inters, it ruined their plans, but some were close enough to the end of the lap to hang on. Simon and Domenicalli took the second row, while Ruiz slotted into sixth and was the last man to cross the line and improve his time. Behind him his championship leading team mate Elroy Wagner spun at the final corner and brought out the yellow flags, ensuring no-one else would improve. With the rain intensifying and not set to let up, qualifying was at an end. Of those to fall foul of the conditions and yellow flag were Downton's Marcus Thunder, both Ingrams, Karl Beckenbauer in his last race for Liverpool, and Westwood's Tumo Kinnumen, who was the slowest of the runners after Abel Osterhagen failed to leave the pit lane with persistent gearbox problems. See full times below:
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