A nice dry chilly day greated the drivers on the morning of qualifying for the Italian eV-Prix, but by the end one driver had brought the storm himself to the party, with a session to remember for the ages. Q1After a drop off in pace since their China heartbreak, there were smiles back in the Thunderhead garage as Garcia topped Q1 to comfortably qualify for the race. In an unusual session, it was Haugland and Matthews who joined the Brazilian in the top 3 - both looked confident from lap one and were never really in doubt for not qualifying. Usual pace setters K8ley meanwhile had a struggle, with Domenicalli barely scrapping 4th ahead of Ledesma in 5th while Kasami was just about 6th. The latter was soon demoted when a strong performance from Agostino, to the delight of the home crowd, elevated him to 4th. It took a last grasp lap from Kasami to just pip Ledesma to 6th and the last qualifying position. 7th was a disappointment for Ledesma, but not as much as 8th to 10th was for Stokey, Bruner and Holzberg. The German in particular struggled a massive amount with understeer, calling his car undrivable, while Stokey continues to struggle compared to Matthews and Bruner ranks up more DNQs. Al-Shabbab impressed many by somehow only being 2 seconds off 6th. His teammate was also quite impressive, as he was even further off the pace than usual. Q2Not for the first time this year, it was a shocking session for some front runners. Of the usual suspects, only Maxwell (4th), Vocquelin (5th) and Cesar (7th) made it into Q3. Jaguar had another shocker, Taylor down in 20th while Hutchinson was plumb last. Mitsubishi didn't fare much better, championship leader Alexander McLaughlin anchored in 21st and Nakumaya 25th. Bergkvist was only 18th, Hudson's best efforts barely got him 12th and Zozulya was pipped to 10th at the end by Klien. With them falling wayside, it was a chance for some teams to make an impact. Ellington marked himself as a contender for pole with the fastest lap, followed closely by Thunder and van Snelheid who kept up their impressive qualifying performances. Renault also were in a boyant mood following a double Q3 appearance thanks to a solid showing from Einarsson and Davies - the latter 9th on his debut in eV. The session wasn't without incident as Zvironas spun at the last corner, leaving him in 15th, while Yoshida ran over the gravel at the first chicane - he will start towards the back alongside Garcia, who couldn't match his Q1 pace. Ostberg looked at sea, ending 22nd, while Matthews similarly failed to build on his Q1 promise in 19th. Haugland at least was able to jump past Zhao with her last lap, in 16th. Agostino put in another surprisingly great lap to take 13th behind Hudson, alongside Domenicalli who showed good pace. He was overshadowed however by Kasami, who's last lap was good enough to sneak into the top 8 and put himself into Q3. Q3With two Highwinds and Renaults, a Ferrari, Arrow, Downton, Porsche, Maserati and a K8ley, it was set to be a fascinating session. Perhaps feeling brave, Cesar decided to venture out first, but didn't nail his out lap and struggled wirh his tyres throughout his flying lap. The next runner, Vocquelin, struggled even more however, ending 5 tenths down.
Van Snelheid, with a top 3 start already under his belt, looked much stronger as he lapped a second quicker than Cesar. It was looking even more comfortable when Thunder's best effort was some 7 tenths off. However, he didn't stay at the top for long. Einarsson nailed his lap, hit his apex's and took the top spot by 2 tenths. Renault tried to follow up with running Davies but Kasami beat him out of the pit lane. What followed was a lap for the ages, as the young Swiss man drove probably the best 98 seconds of his life. When he crossed the line, some 50 or so minutes after barely making it through Q1, he had set the fastest time by half a second. Davies was next and while he wasn't matching Einarsson, beating Thunder marked a good debut. It was up to the two Highwind's and Maxwell to dethrone Kasami - Klien was out first, and while his pace was much better after barely scrapping through Q2, he could only slot himself in between Einarsson and van Snelheid. Ellington went faster, going purple in sector 2, but a wide moment at the penultimate corner saw him fall just short of pole. Maxwell's lap was held back for last with plenty of anticipation, but through the first chicane his car looked a bit uneasy - which was confirmed with a lock up into the turn 7 hairpin, all but ending his chances of pole. He still slavaged 6th, but the celebrations had already begun down at K8ley as the mechanics lifted eV's newest pole sitter onto their shoulders - Steven Kasami.
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