After crashing out of race one on Saturday and seeing his last chance of taking the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series title disappear in the process, Roberto Merhi stormed to pole position for Sunday’s second race at Jerez.
The Zeta Corse driver took his fourth pole position of a strong season, and will be hoping for his fourth victory of the season to secure second place in the championship, with his rival for that position Pierre Gasly third on the grid.
Oliver Rowland will start second for Fortec Motorsports hoping to go one better after finishing second in race one, less than a tenth of a second away from the win.
Gasly, who trails Merhi by three points, will start third for Arden Motorsport, and will be looking for his first win of the season to jump into second spot in the championship.
Nicholas Latifi was an excellent fourth for Tech 1 Racing ahead of William Buller, who will be hoping for a strong end of a disappointing season for Arden Motorsport.
Zoel Amberg will start sixth in the leading AV Formula entry ahead of Pietro Fantin of International Draco Racing, while Oscar Tunjo starts eighth for Pons Racing.
Matthieu Vaxiviere will start ninth for Lotus ahead of Beitske Visser, who continues to impress this weekend for AV Formula in tenth.
The closeness of the series is emphasised by race one winner Will Stevens only qualifying his Strakka Racing machine down in thirteenth, just ahead of the newly crowned series Champion Carlos Sainz Jr of DAMS in fourteenth.
Jerez Race 2 Qualifying Times
POS | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
1 | Roberto Merhi | ESP | Zeta Corse | 1:27.525 |
2 | Oliver Rowland | GBR | Fortec Motorsports | 1:27.802 |
3 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Arden Motorsport | 1:27.831 |
4 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Tech 1 Racing | 1:27.959 |
5 | William Buller | GBR | Arden Motorsport | 1:27.988 |
6 | Zoel Amberg | SWI | AV Formula | 1:28.049 |
7 | Pietro Fantin | BRZ | International Draco Racing | 1:28.066 |
8 | Oscar Tunjo | COL | Pons Racing | 1:28.098 |
9 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | FRA | Lotus | 1:28.100 |
10 | Beitske Visser | NED | AV Formula | 1:28.114 |
11 | Sergey Sirotkin | RUS | Fortec Motorsports | 1:28.137 |
12 | Marlon Stockinger | PHI | Lotus | 1:28.153 |
13 | Will Stevens | GBR | Strakka Racing | 1:28.234 |
14 | Carlos Sainz Jr | ESP | DAMS | 1:28.250 |
15 | Norman Nato | FRA | DAMS | 1:28.279 |
16 | Matias Lainé | FIN | Strakka Racing | 1:28.405 |
17 | Jazeman Jaafar | MAL | ISR Racing | 1:28.436 |
18 | Marco Sorensen | DEN | Tech 1 Racing | 1:28.504 |
19 | Luca Ghiotto | ITA | International Draco Racing | 1:28.543 |
20 | Meindert van Buuren | NED | Pons Racing | 1:28.583 |
21 | Roman Mavlanov | RUS | Zeta Corse | 1:28.898 |