Alx Danielsson stormed to his third World Series by Renault pole position in four races at Barcelona to secure a crucial extra point with only two races to go in what remains a very open championship.

Although the reinstatement of Borja Garcia's win at Spa has vaulted the Spaniard from an outsider into the clear favourite for the title, just fourteen points now cover him to Danielsson, with Andy Soucek and Pastor Maldonado in between.

However, despite being in the most unfavourable position of the quartet, Danielsson had already signaled his intentions in practice by proving amongst the quickest drivers, the Swede duly going on to snatch pole position by being the only driver to break the 1min 27secs barrier.

Going up in the first session alongside fellow championship contender Soucek, as well as pole position contenders Sean McIntosh, Mikhail Aleshin and Milos Pavlovic, it was unsurprising to find the quintet staking their claim for the top spot early on, albeit after Oliver Jarvis' Victory Engineering car was moved when he crashed in the first few minutes. He was duly last of the 15 runners and will start 29th overall.

With over three quarters of the session complete and five minutes remaining, home favourite Soucek was leading the pack, the Spaniard ahead of Pavlovic, Danielsson, Aleshin, Adrian Zaugg and McIntosh.

It was then that Danielsson made his move though, the Swede hooking a clean lap together to set a time of 1min 26.788secs, four tenths up on Soucek, with only a couple of minutes on the clock remaining.

“I have to score as many points as possible,” Danielsson admitted. “This pole position is already worth one point and that's important. We have worked well with the team to adapt our setup to this very specific track."

With no chance to get out and challenge his time, Soucek had to settle for second best, ahead of Pavlovic and McIntosh, the Canadian nipping ahead of Aleshin in the final seconds.

With the standard set, it was the turn of the remaining title contenders Garcia and Maldonado to make a play for pole position, although not before waiting while the session was delayed after Eurointernational newcomer Nil Montserrat spun his car coming out of the pit lane, blocking the home straight. Stopping the session, he failed to set a time and will therefore start last.