Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi topped FIA GT Championship qualifying at Paul Ricard today.
The Team Brazil Chevrolet driver will not start the penultimate round of the championship from pole position, however. Bernoldi will take a six-place grid penalty for avoidable contact during the previous round of the championship at the Algarve circuit last month.
Bernoldi ended this morning's qualifying session nearly a second clear of his closest challenger - his 2m09.19s compared with Alex Muller's 2m01.856s best in the fastest of the Vitaphone Maseratis.
Bernoldi, who shares the DKR-run Corvette C6.R with Roberto Streit, said: "The car behaved very well and I was a bit pissed because of the penalty, but I still didn't expect to be a second clear."
The lead Vitaphone Maserati MC12 and the PK Racing Chevrolet Corvette, which are tied for the lead of the championship, ended up fourth and sixth on the timesheets. Andrea Bertolini qualified the Maserati on a 2m02.043s, Mike Hezemans the Corvette on a 2m02.328s.
GT2 pole went to Gianmaria Bruni in the revised AF Corse Ferrari. His time of 2m08.735s was less than two tenths clear of Tim Mullen's best in the CR Scuderia Ferrari.
Thee lead AF Corse Ferrari, which Bruni shares with Toni Vilander, is racing this weekend to a 1245kg base weight. That means it can run wider tyres and a larger-diameter air-restrictor like the rival Porsche 911 GT3-RSR.