Photo: Eric Vargiolu / DPPI
McLaren young driver Nyck de Vries achieved his first pole position of the season in Saturday qualifying for the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 finale at Catalunya, whilst standings leader Pierre Gasly kept himself ahead of Oliver Rowland as the pair are preparing to battle it out for the championship.
Gasly has an 11-point advantage over Manor?s Rowland going into the penultimate race and has claimed a front row spot by topping Group A. The pair is, therefore, scheduled to start in second and third, with Rowland missing out on the Group B honours.
De Vries, who after finishing as the Eurocup?s best rookie in 2012, has had a less successful year than expected, was the quickest man in Group B and took pole. The Koiranen man will be hoping to add to his sole victory of the year.
The only driver in contention for the title besides Gasly and Rowland, Esteban Ocon, will start from fourth, having narrowly missed out on first in Group A.
Andrea Pizzitola will line up in fifth alongside Lotus junior Oscar Tunjo, with Ignazio D?Agosto of KTR in seventh.
The consistent 18-year-old Russian driver Egor Orudzhev qualified eighth-fastest with Fortec?s Ed Jones, who was amongst the front-runners in practice, taking ninth. Jenzer’s Kevin Jorg will round out the top ten.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Group A | Group B |
| 1 | Nyck de Vries | Koiranen GP | 1:42.633 | |
| 2 | Pierre Gasly | Tech 1 Racing | 1:43.177 | |
| 3 | Oliver Rowland | Manor MP Motorsport | 1:42.922 | |
| 4 | Esteban Ocon | ART Junior Team | 1:43.284 | |
| 5 | Andr?a Pizzitola | ART Junior Team | 1:43.156 | |
| 6 | Oscar Tunjo | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 1:43.676 | |
| 7 | Ignazio D’Agosto | KTR | 1:43.172 | |
| 8 | Egor Orudzhev | Tech 1 Racing | 1:43.682 | |
| 9 | Ed Jones | Fortec Motorsports | 1:43.215 | |
| 10 | Kevin Jorg | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:43.868 | |
| 11 | Jake Dennis | Fortec Motorsports | 1:43.216 | |
| 12 | Bruno Bonifacio | Prema Powerteam | 1:43.870 | |
| 13 | Alex Albon | KTR | 1:43.320 | |
| 14 | William Vermont | ARTA Engineering | 1:43.873 | |
| 15 | Levin Amweg | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:43.418 | |
| 16 | Luca Ghiotto | Prema Powerteam | 1:43.919 | |
| 17 | Jack Aitken | Manor MP Motorsport | 1:43.437 | |
| 18 | Gustav Malja | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 1:43.955 | |
| 19 | Victor Franzoni | Koiranen GP | 1:43.527 | |
| 20 | Aurelien Panis | Prema Powerteam | 1:44.136 | |
| 21 | Guilherme Silva | Koiranen GP | 1:43.587 | |
| 22 | Marcos Siebert | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:44.391 | |
| 23 | Steijn Schothorst | Josef Kaufmann Racing | 1:43.703 | |
| 24 | Mikko Pakari | Fortec Motorsports | 1:44.457 | |
| 25 | Ukyo Sasahara | Euronova Racing | 1:44.006 | |
| 26 | Simon Tirman | ARTA Engineering | 1:44.480 | |
| 27 | Benjamin Bailly | RC Formula | 1:44.084 | |
| 28 | Gregor Ramsay | Euronova Racing | 1:44.754 | |
| 29 | Leo Roussel | Manor MP Motorsport | 1:44.434 | |
| 30 | Yu Kanamaru | KTR | 1:44.956 | |
| 31 | Raoul Owens | Mark Burdett Motorsport | 1:44.467 | |
| 32 | Roman Beregech | RC Formula | 1:45.579 | |
| 33 | John Filippi | RC Formula | 1:45.996 | |
| 34 | Alejandro Abogado | Interwetten.com Racing | 1:46.310 | |
| DNP | Alessio Picariello | Interwetten.com Racing | No Time | |
| DNP | Kuba Dalewski | Interwetten.com Racing | No Time |