Trailing the pole-sitter by only four-hundreths of a second, Britain's Richard Westbrook posted the third fastest qualifying time. At his inaugural Supercup race in Bahrain last year, Westbrook secured pole position, the fastest race lap as well as victory. Richard Lietz from Austria achieved the fourth position on the grid, 24-hundreths of a second ahead of Patrick Huisman (Netherlands), with Jan Seyffarth (Germany) yielding sixth in qualifying, nine-thousandths of a second in arrears of Huisman. At 19, Seyffarth is the youngest competitor in the field.

Of the thirty Porsches to take up the session, 14 drivers qualified within 0.8 seconds of the pole-setting time. Amongst them was ex-Formula 1 driver Luciano Burti (Brazil) in tenth starting position, separated from the pole time by just four-tenths of a second. Bad luck plagued Germany’s Christian Menzel who secured third in Bahrain last year: The current champion of the Carrera Cup Deutschland was sidelined after only nine laps with a faulty gearshift sensor. Menzel settled for ninth, four-tenths of a second behind Saelens. Nicolas Armindo (France), who traveled to Bahrain as vice-champion of the national series behind Menzel, rolled into the pits during the ninth lap with an electrical problem.

Alessandro Zampedri (Italy), current champion of the Porsche Michelin Supercup, was forced to pit after four laps with gearbox damage. He takes up Sunday's race from 26th position.

Bad luck for guest driver Damian Faulkner (Ireland). The current champion of the Carrera Cup Great Britain and his Lechner Racing School Team did not find an optimal set-up and a disappointed Damian had to settle for 14th on the grid.

On Friday evening the Porsche Michelin Supercup opened its 14th race season as support to Formula 1 World Championship with a exhibition practice. A backdrop of the setting desert sun presented press photographers and fans with a new and fascinating aspect on the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. At the end of the practice many motorsport enthusiasts took the chance to experience the racing sports cars up close in the pitlane.

David Saelens (pole sitter): "I'm not completely happy with my fastest lap - it could have been better. But we have been the fastest all weekend. With 30 cars on the track you're bound to run into traffic. For the series and the spectators a full field is fantastic - for us it's tough."

Uwe Alzen (second qualifier): "I'm delighted to start from the front row. After setting my fastest lap I ran-in my fresh set of tyres for tomorrow's race and waited. Let's see what I can do about David over the race distance tomorrow (Sunday)."

Richard Westbrook (third): "We are a new team, so we're learning. The car was not perfect but I did what was possible today. The longer the session, the slower the track becomes because we are taking off the rubber left by the Formula 1 cars."

Richard Lietz (fourth): "We have been successful in implementing our tactic this weekend which makes me optimistic. This year's competition in the series is incredibly hard. I reckon there are at least ten drivers here who could win races. Great for fans, a challenge for us."

Qualifying:
1. David Saelens (B), Kadach Racing Team, 2:03.864min (=157.295kmh)
2. Uwe Alzen (D), PZ Koblenz – Team SPS, 0.012sec behind
3. Richard Westbrook (GB), Racing Team Morellato PZ Essen, 0.046
4. Richard Lietz (A), tolimit Motorsport, 0.266
5. Patrick Huisman (NL), Farnbacher Racing, 0.290
6. Jan Seyffarth (D), UPS Porsche-Junior Team, 0.299
7. Fabrice Walfisch (F), Kadach Racing Team, 0.308
8. Dirk Werner (D), Farnbacher Racing, 0.390
9. Christian Menzel (D), tolimit Motorsport, 0.418
10. Luciano Burti (BRA), Morellato Stars Team, 0.493
11. Olivier Maximin (F), Racing Team Morellato PZ Essen, 0.497
12. Lance David Arnold (D), UPS Porsche-Junior Team, 0.515
13. Geoffroy Horion (B), Mühlner Motorsport, 0.693
14. Damian Faulkner (IRL), Lechner Racing School Team, 0.835
15. Tim Bergmeister (D), Konrad Motorsport, 1.078
16. Nicolas Armindo (F), Priority Racing Team Lechner, 1.290
17. Duncan Huisman (NL), MRS-Team PZM, 1.373
18. Robert van den Berg (NL), Harders Plaza Racing, 1.481
19. Philip Beyrer (CH), Jetstream Motorsport PZ Essen, 1.548
20. Michael Schrey (D), Konrad Motorsport, 1.670
21. Cyrille Sauvage (I), Lechner Racing School Team, 2.055
22. David Dermont (B), Mühlner Motorsport, 2.210
23. Georg Braun (D), MRS-Team PZM, 2.485
24. Simon Frederiks (NL), Jetstream Motorsport PZ Essen, 2.487
25. Salman Al-Khalifa (BRN), Porsche AG, 2.786
26. Alessandro Zampedri (I), Lechner Racing School Team, 3.197
27. Fahed Al Muslam (BRN), Porsche AG, 3.380
28. Chris Mattheus (MC), Harders Plaza Racing, 3.788
29. Jörg Stephan (D), PZ Koblenz – Team SPS, 4.265
30. Jaber Al-Khalifa (BRN), Morellato Stars Team, 4.605

Uwe Alzen (D), PMSC Bahrain 2006

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