Luciano Bacheta seals first F2 pole in first Algarve qualifying

The Brit sat out the first fifteen minutes of the session, employing a tactic used to such great effect by 2011 champion Mirko Bortolotti, allowing him to take to the track for his one and only run on a clear circuit.

On his third flying lap he set his quickest time, before returning to the pits to sit out the rest of the session, nervously watching the timing screen.

There was reason to be nervous, with the top nine cars covered by just four tenths of a second. It was Markus Pommer who came closest to toppling Bacheta, ending the session less than a tenth of a second behind. Matheo Tuscher qualified third, ahead of Kevin Mirocha and the impressive Daniel McKenzie.

There were frontrunners from the opening round languishing further down the top ten than they would have liked, with Christopher Zanella starting in sixth just ahead of double Silverstone podium finisher Alex Fontana.

David Zhu was eighth, just ahead of Mihai Marinescu and Dino Zamparelli.

Pos   Driver             Time        Gap 
 1.  Luciano Bacheta     1m34.135s
 2.  Markus Pommer       1m34.156s   + 0.021s
 3.  Mathéo Tuscher      1m34.317s   + 0.182s
 4.  Kevin Mirocha       1m34.321s   + 0.186s
 5.  Daniel McKenzie     1m34.433s   + 0.298s
 6.  C.Zanella           1m34.456s   + 0.321s
 7.  Alex Fontana        1m34.533s   + 0.398s
 8.  David Zhu           1m34.554s   + 0.419s
 9.  Mihai Marinescu     1m34.572s   + 0.437s
10.  Dino Zamparelli     1m34.771s   + 0.636s
11.  Hector Hurst        1m34.854s   + 0.719s
12.  P.Sureshwaren       1m35.120s   + 0.985s
13.  Plamen Kralev       1m35.201s   + 1.066s
14.  Victor Guerin       1m35.527s   + 1.392s
15.  Kourosh Khani       1m35.649s   + 1.514s
16.  Maxim Snegirev      1m35.746s   + 1.611s
17.  Mauro Calamia       1m36.084s   + 1.949s