Today marked another important landmark in the history of the eVirtual World Championship, as the first ever triple crown session took place. Qualifying for the Japan 300 took place at Motegi, a return to an oval track for the first time after the season opening Australian eV-Prix. It also sees a return to the 4 lap average format of qualifying, with drivers doing 4 laps at a time and their average speed being taken. Q1The stakes were lower for Q1 this time as all 32 drivers competed in the race, but nevertheless it was an interesting session, especially with Renault in the mix after a run of poor luck. Unsurprisingly, Einarrson had no trouble getting through the session, though he was pipped to the top spot by Domenicalli. K8ley showed the same impressive pace as in Australia, with Kasami backing his teammate up in 4th as he comfortably qualified. Lamborghini also had a much needed good session - Ledesma was hugely impressive, showing the same speed as Einarsson and Domenicalli, while Agostino was a bit further off but nevertheless qualified, in 5th ahead of Garcia. Between both BMW's struggling, Bruner feeling unwell beforehand, Alaniz and Toyota reverting to their previous driver line, there was very large gaps in the field, Holzberg some .7 mph down on Garcia and the rest even further off. It did seem that the German had still delivered the best run he could, quite a bit up on his teammate in 10th. Alaniz was in 8th ahead of Bruner, though Audi were still content with Garcia's performances, as they continue to search for a maidin point. Al Shabbab and Al-Ghazzawy unsurprisingly were well off the pace. Q2After a couple of poor results recently, a return to an oval saw an upturn in the fortunes of Maserati and Porsche. Both Cesar and Yoshida stayed towards the top of the timesheets and ended up 1st and 3rd, as the Canadian team ooked rapid at Yoshida's home event. While not showing similar headline pace, Porsche also saw both their drivers qualifying, with Bergkvist remarking after Q2 on how planted the car felt around the oval compared to previous races. Downton had a slightly rougher time, as while Maxwell continued his strong qualifying form and ended up a comfortable 2nd, Zozulya had a so-so first run that left him down in 15th. After two further runs he reached Q3, but only just after pipping Fusion's Zvironas by about .1 mph. It was a disastrous qualifying for Jaguar though - Taylor wounded up 16th while Hutchinson almost crashed twice as he seemed to have a poorly set up car on his way to 19th. Lada faired even worse - the car just seemed to genuinely lack pace as Ostberg and Hudson were 23rd and 24th. This did allow some midfield teams to take advantage and sneak into Q3. Fusion missed out - just - with Zvironas but Thunder was quick and pipped the Porsche's by the end, qualifying for Q3. Similarly for Highwind, Klien only managed 14th after not stringing together his best 4 laps, but Ellington looked like a man on a mission as he finished 4th in Q2. Jochem van Snelheid also kept up his fine qualifying form as he made Q3, though on the other side of the garage, Zhao was comfortably slowest. There was plenty of positives for Mitsubishi at home as well - after missing Q3 on a couple of occasions, McLaughlin put in a lap good enough for 5th and was very pleased at the end of the session, while 25th meant Nakumaya was an instant improvement over Michiko. Another pleased team was OSM - while not matching their highest grid position, crucially both drivers were in good nick and placed inside the top 15. Perhaps the biggest positive surprise was Agostino in 12th, as the Lamborghini driver nailed his final run and was delighted to jump up the order. Fellow Q1 team K8ley found themselves struggling however, perhaps due to cooler temperatures. They only managed 17th and 20th, Einarsson fairing little better in 18th. Ledesma and Garica had quiet sessions, qualifying 21st and 22nd. Q3Looking to make it 3 poles in a row, Maxwell was first out and while many expected Maserati to be favourites, a 148.452 looked impervious from the Briton - and it looked even more solid a few minutes later. Maserati had responded by sending out Yoshida, cheered on massively by the home crowd, but perhaps due to the pressure, he ended up .8 down on Maxwell, as his car got squirrally through turn 1 and 2 on lap 3.
As Cesar stayed in the pits, Vocquelin was the next driver out. He lodged a 46.7, but it was a clean run and was better then what Zozulya could muster up next. The winner last time out looked pretty timid and would end up slowest of all, with Downton stumped by his lack of pace. Arrow were out next with van Snelheid and while he couldn't beat Yoshida, a smooth run was good enough to beat Vocquelin. Porsche decided to not leave Bergkvist's run too late and it worked out very well, as the Swede put in a run good enough to pip Yoshida, placing him 2nd. McLaughlin had his fair share of support from the Mitsubishi fans, and he delivered for them... almost. A commited run saw him just up on Maxwell after 3 laps, but on his last lap, pushing a bit too hard, he had a major moment and had to back out, dropping him to slowest bar Zozulya. Thunder and Ellington tried to get out at the same time before racing down the pit lane - the Fusion won that particular battle. Thunder made good use of that, as she put together 4 clean laps that saw her pip Vocquelin. But Ellington did even better. A perfect blend of speed and smoothness saw him take 2nd and plop Highwind on the front row. With the rest of Maxwell's falling wayside, it was down to Cesar as Maserati left his run for last. The Brazilian went out - a strong first lap was followed by a so so second lap. He smashed in a strong third lap however, and was placed slightly ahead of Maxwell with 4 corners left. He put his balls to the wall in that last lap, and as he flew across the line, it was enough to take a fantastic pole. It was Cesar's first pole of the year, and marked a strong result for Maserati as Yoshida still ended up 5th. Maxwell will still start from the front row, but it's clear Downton are fighting with only 1 car this time around. Elsewhere, a midfield podium is on the cards for the likes of Ellington, van Snelheid and Thunder, while Bergkvist has been impressive throughout, with Vocquelin also going solidly. Elsewhere, Agostino will be looking to take a stunning shock result, while for Lada and Jaguar, a major comeback is required to keep themselves up there in the championship standings. However, if Australia showed us anything, it's that anything could happen - don't mark out anyone (except perhaps the Toyotas) for a strong result tomorrow!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2024
Categories |