Jenzer Motorsport's Fabio Leimer will start this afternoon's first 2009 International Formula Master round in Pau, France, on pole position, after securing a fastest time of 1:11.736.
In a session which saw no less than 12 drivers feature in the top qualifying slot throughout the 30 minutes, Leimer eventually set the best lap with just over nine minutes remaining.
Although Leimer and JD Motorsport team-mates Josef Kral and Sergey Afanasiev all showed pace worthy of the pole position within the dying minutes of the session, a red flag caused by Cram Competition's Alessandro Kouzkin put stop to the battle.
Kral eventually qualified second, with a fastest lap of 1:12.122, ahead of team-mate Arabadzhiev who completed his best lap in 1:12.474.
Jenzer Motorsport's Pål Varhaug set the fastest time for a rookie with a 1:12.506 lap good enough for fourth place. Team JVA's Jonathan Kennard followed closely with his best time of 1:12.559.
Kouzkin secured P6 despite his late incident, recording his fastest lap in 1:12.647, ahead of Iris Project's Patrick Reiterer (1:12.653) and Hitech Junior's Alexander Rossi (1:12.748).
Earlier contenders included ADM Motorsport's Earl Bamber whose hope of a front-row start ended with a kerb, damaging his rear suspension. Trident Racing's Frankie Provenzano also featured on a couple of occasions; the young Italian will start this afternoon's race in P13 after a best qualifying time of 1:13.354.
Eurosport's coverage for IFM's race weekend in Pau will begin today with race one shown live at 10:00 (GMT) on Eurosport International and Asia Pacific. Sunday's race two will also be broadcast live on Eurosport International and Asia Pacific from 11:45 (GMT).
Fabio Leimer, Jenzer Motorsport
"Today was quite hard; I only really had one lap to qualify with, all the others were affected by yellow flags. It's frustrating because I know I could have gone another half a second faster if I could have really pushed!"
Josef Kral, JD Motorsport
"The start of the race is going to be key, after that it's very difficult to pass anyone. Sometimes you can benefit from the person in front making a mistake but Fabio [Leimer] isn't the type of driver that does that often. I'm happy though; we're in front and can do a lot from the grid."
Vladimir Arabadzhiev, JD Motorsport
"Traffic was a big factor this morning; I think all of us only got one clean lap in the end! For the race, I'll try to have as good a start as possible, stay out of trouble and then focus on the two guys in front."
Fabio Leimer
International Formula Master - Pau
Qualifying (Round 01)
1. Fabio Leimer (SUI), Jenzer Motorsport (#6), 1:11.736
2. Josef Kral (CZH), JD Motorsport (#3), 1:12.122
3. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (BUL), JD Motorsport (#1), 1:12.474
4. Pål Varhaug (NOR), Jenzer Motorsport (#7), 1:12.506
5. Jonathan Kennard (GBR), Team JVA (#29), 1:12.559
6. Alessandro Kouzkin (RUS), Cram Competition (#47), 1:12.647
7. Patrick Reiterer (ITA), Iris Project (#9), 1:12.653
8. Alexander Rossi (USA), Hitech Junior (#16), 1:12.748
9. Sergey Afanasiev (RUS), JD Motorsport (#2), 1:12.813
10. Marcello Puglisi (ITA), ADM Motorsport (#15), 1:12.861
11. Kasper Andersen (DEN), Hitech Junior (#24), 1:12.966
12. Harald Schlegelmilch (LAT), Cram Competition (#10), 1:13.060
13. Frankie Provenzano (ITA), Trident Racing (#4), 1:13.354
14. Dennis Retera (NED), AR Motorsport (#32), 1:13.924
15. Duncan Tappy (GBR), Team JVA (#30), 1:13.944
16. Kelvin Snoeks (NED), AR Motorsport (#31), 1:14.296
17. Simon Trummer (SUI), Iris Project (#8), 1:15.168
18. Earl Bamber (NZL), ADM Motorsport (#14), 1:17.794
