Reigning Australian Formula Ford champion Anton DePasquale has claimed pole for both races in the opening round of the Formula Renault 1.6 Championship at Zandvoort.

Extending from his strong pace in practice, De Pasquale established best laps of 1:44.67s and 1:44.69s respectively to nab the prime starting berth for tomorrow’s races.

He was able to top rival Larry TenVoorde who set times of 1:44.92s and 1:45.03s.

De Pasquale’s Lechner Racing team-mates, Ferdinand Habsburg and Florian Janits will start from third and fourth.

“It was a challenging qualifying session. It was really windy which was affecting the cars, positively on some corners, and not on others, so I tried to read that and make the most of it,” De Pasquale explained.

“I learnt a lot today about how the tyres respond on these cars in a full-on qualifying session and how long before they peak and how long before they start to drop away.

“I’ll try and use that knowledge to manage them in the races on Monday, but I reckon the real battle will be the ‘towing’ that could go on.

“This track is renowned for it with the fast right hander coming onto a long straight.”