Gathering for the final oval race of the season, the teams and drivers now descend to Mexico for round 10 of the eV championship. Qualifying takes place around the 2/4 corner Autodromo Miguel E. Abed (depending on who you asked), with several teams looking to take advantage of the final race on this track type. Q1Not for the first time this year, Q1 was a relatively straightforward affair, with 6th and 7th separated by over 1 mph. Domenicalli ranked up another 1st place in Q1, ahead of Matthews as both continue their 100% qualifying record. They were followed by Garcia in third and Kasami in 4th. Finding pace on the ovals, Lamborghini saw both drivers through to the race in 5th and 6th. The two main headlines then were Stokey's DNQ and a double BMW knockout. Though he has lagged behind his teammate, not making the race was still a big disappointment for the Briton. For BMW, there was an improvement from Holzberg as he beat his teammate but 7th and 9th means it matters little as the team departs early. Bruner meet expectations as he finished dead last. There was a massive shock in the paddock quite early on as, after a sedate first run, Zozulya smashed into the barriers and totalled his Downton, leaving him down in 25th ahead of Ledesma. It was a fitting symbol of Downton's session as Maxwell struggled to 19th, but Jaguar also had another horror show - Hutchinson was 24th on genuine pace while Taylor looked at sea as he could only manage 20th, meaning the top two teams in the championship have a lot to do. With them out of the way, you would expect Cesar to step up, but the Brazilian twice messed up on two quick runs and when the flag fell, he was a miserable 17th, though 3rd for Yoshida gave Maserati some cheer. Mitsubishi also were in happy spirits as McLaughlin had his first good session in a while with 5th, and 13th for Nakumaya was an improvement. Porsche once again showed excellent pace on ovals - Vocquelin 2nd and Bergkvist 6th made them clear contenders for pole. There was disappointment for Lada though as neither car could make Q3 - Ostberg was a lowly 20th but Hudson was agonisingly 11th as he felt there was still more in the car. Highwind recovered from Morocco to get both cars through into Q3, with Ellington going fastest and Klien backing him up in 8th. Lada's pain was Fusion's gain as both Thunder and Zvironas just edged Hudson for 9th and 10th, showing their recent pace was no flash in the pan. Arrow were annoyed when a minor engine issue kept van Snelheid down in 12th, Zhao well down in 22nd (though he did beat the two title contenders). K8ley and OSM once again booked Q3 appearances through Domenicalli and Matthews in 4th and 7th - Kasami couldn't match their pace in 18th. Renault were also lacking pace, 15th and 23rd for Einarsson and Davies. Ledesma failed to even beat Zozulya but Agostino looked much better, 14th a good result for Lamborghini, two places ahead of Garcia who had an average run to 16th. Q3 was set to be an interesting affair, and when the lights went green, Domenicalli was the first one out. A 121.6 was a good run and looked better when Yoshida was unable to match it, falling just short. Ellington was first to beat it, though only by a couple of tenths, while Zvironas had a close brush with the barriers and ended up well off.
His teammate had other ideas though - Thunder stormed around the track with the intent of someone after her first pole in eV, and ended the run well ahead of Ellington on provisional pole. It looked even more impressive when Bergkvist couldn't come close to matching it, though the Swede did put his car on 2nd for now. Matthews couldn't pull anything special but he did beat Zvironas as OSM looked to focus on the race. McLaughlin was next and a average first lap was followed by two stunners - despite a close call with the barrier on his last lap, he crossed the line to dislodge Thunder and take 1st. When Klien slotted in behind his teammate, it was just Vocquelin left to run. After the first two laps, he was - just- up McLaughlin but that fine margin swung the other way when he crossed the line as he just fell short of a maiden pole, instead taking 2nd. So, after some tough races, McLaughlin bounces back to take his first pole of the season. With Zozulya, Taylor and Cesar all well back, its a chance for the New Zealander to haul himself back into title contentions, while the likes of Vocquelin and Thunder are in with a shout of a first win in eV. Join us tomorrow, for the race here in Mexico!
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