A first-lap crash that engulfed half the field proved just the opportunity Russian Time's Sam Bird needed to repeat his 2012 World Series by Renault victory in Monaco.
Fabio Leimer proved unstoppable in qualifying, repeating his dominating practice form to once again go faster by a second as he claimed the feature pole.
Wet track conditions first thing gave teams the chance to test their rain and intermediate tyres, but did nothing for the times on the third day at Jerez.