JD Motorsport's Sergey Afanasiev will start this afternoon's race from pole position after clinching P1 in this morning's Formula Master qualifying session at Brands Hatch in England.
The Russian completed his best lap of 1:17.976, whilst ISR's Filip Salaquarda claimed second fastest, with a best time of 1:18.293.
Norbert Siedler will start this afternoon's race in third place, having posted a fastest time of 1:18.436 for ADM Motorsport.
Kasper Andersen produced Trident Racing's best qualifying performance of the day and secured fourth place with a 1:18.500 lap, closely matched by Jenzer Motorsport's Fabio Leimer in P5 (1:18.559).
JD Motorsport's Chris van der Drift will start the race in sixth place, despite posting the fastest time of the day (1:17.812). The New Zealander was demoted five places for improving his time under yellow flags.
Trident Racing's Harald Schlegelmilch posted a best time of 1:18.932, placing him seventh on the grid for this afternoon's round nine, with Jenzer Motorsport's Matei Mihaescu alongside him in eighth place. Mihaescu's lap of 1:19.160 marks the Romanian's best qualifying performance of the season so far.
Local drivers Michael Meadows (Euronova Racing) and Tor Graves (Team JVA) qualified in tenth and 23rd respectively.
Eurosport's coverage for Formula Master's race weekend in England, will begin this afternoon with race one shown live at 12:45 (CET) on Eurosport International and Asia Pacific. Sunday's race two will be broadcast live on Eurosport 2 and Asia Pacific at 15:15 (CET).
Sergey Afanasiev, JD Motorsport
"This is my first time at the track and I had fun. The track is very fast and sometimes scary but I found the confidence to go faster. There was a lot of traffic but the team did a great job."
Filip Salaquarda, ISR
"I'm very happy. It's my first good qualifying position and I'm really pleased. On my first set of tyres I was fast but there was a lot of traffic. After I changed my tyres, I made a couple of mistakes, but am very happy with the first half of the session."
Norbert Siedler, ADM Motorsport
"It's a shame about Chris, but I am happy to be higher on the grid. The start will be very important for me, as last year it was hard to overtake. I will try my hardest to finish on the podium."
Michael Meadows, Euronova Racing
"I struggled a bit as there seemed to be yellow flags whenever I wanted to push. In practice we were looking really good, but we were unlucky in the qualifying session. I'm hoping to make up a few places in the race to get seventh or eighth position; it will be difficult to make up more than that. So I'm looking forward to race two tomorrow!"
Formula Master - Brands Hatch Qualifying (Round 9)
1. Sergey Afanasiev (RUS), JD Motorsport (#5), 1:17.976
2. Filip Salaquarda (CZH), ISR (#18), 1:18.293
3. Norbert Siedler (AUT), ADM Motorsport (#17), 1:18.436
4. Kasper Andersen (DEN), Trident Racing (#32), 1:18.500
5. Fabio Leimer (SUI), Jenzer Motorsport (#23), 1:18.559
6. Chris van der Drift (NED), JD Motorsport (#6), 1:17.812*
7. Harald Schlegelmilch (LAT), Trident Racing (#31), 1:18.932
8. Matei Mihaescu (ROM), Jenzer Motorsport (#24), 1:19.160
9. Josef Kral (CZH), Team JVA (#29), 1:19.194
10. Michael Meadows (GBR), Euronova Racing (#15), 1:19.246
11. Marcello Puglisi (ITA), Cram Competition (#9), 1:19.300
12. Arturo Llobell (ESP), Cram Competition (#1), 1:19.340
13. Alberto Costa (ITA), Euronova Racing (#3), 1:19.398
14. Michael Ammermüller (GER), Iris Project (#27), 1:19.407
15. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (BUL), JD Motorsport (#4), 1:19.457
16. Yuhi Sekiguchi (JAP), Euronova Racing (#45), 1:19.468
17. Daniel Mancinelli (ITA), Scuderia Famà (#46), 1:19.471
18. Frankie Provenzano (ITA), Cram Competition (#21), 1:19.566
19. Luca Persiani (ITA), Scuderia Famà (#25), 1:19.641
20. Tim Sandtler (GER), ISR (#19), 1:19.705
21. Alejandro Núñez (ESP), Trident Racing (#33), 1:20.099
22. Michele Caliendo (ITA), ADM Motorsport (#22), 1:20.247
23. Tor Graves (GBR), Team JVA (#30), 1:20.546
24. Tomas Pivoda (CZH), ADM Motorsport (#8), 1:24.026
*Demoted five places from pole
For more information, please visit www.formulamaster.net
- RSM -
