Zanella on pole for race two

Race one winner Christopher Zanella will start from pole for today's round four of the FIA Formula Two Championship at Magny-Cours.

The Swiss driver set his fastest lap, using overboost late in the session, to claim his maiden F2 pole and continue his strong run of form at the former French Formula One track.

British racer Alex Brundle, son of former Grand Prix racer Martin, narrowly missed out on his second pole place to secure P2 and a front-row start while Romanian Marinescu secured his best qualifying position to date with third.

The dry 30-minute session initially saw Mirko Bortolotti and Miki Monras go considerably quicker than the rest, although Zanella had already signaled his intent with a decent lap for third before the cars headed to the pits for fresh tires. Whilst the track was clear Tobias Hegewald used his overboost to temporarily top the timesheet following his third spot from yesterday's thrilling race one.

When the cars returned to the track Brundle and Bratt were initially quickest, the former the first man to lap under 90 seconds. Bortolotti attempted to topple the young Briton but fell short by a tenth and Monras was equally as unsuccessful.

As the session drew to a close, Mihai Marinescu took second, before Zanella hooked up the perfect lap for pole and will surely look forward to repeating his victory from yesterday. He will start ahead of Brundle, Marinescu, Bortolotti and Monras.

Ramon Pineiro posted the sixth fastest time ahead of Will Bratt, whilst Jon Lancaster, Thiemo Storz and Tobias Hegewald complete the top ten for today's race.

Speaking after the event Zanella said: "I was actually a bit surprised about the pole because my lap where I used my boost wasn't a perfect lap. I'm really happy though; it's my second F2 event and I've had my first win, first pole…what else could I want?! I'll need a good start for the race though that's for sure and hopefully all will go to plan."

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