After the drama in Australia, it was back to racetracks for round 2 of the 2021 eVirtual Championship, as the teams and drivers went northwest up to Shanghai, China. After the drama in Australia, it was back to racetracks for round 2 of the 2021 eVirtual Championship, as the teams and drivers went northwest up to Shanghai, China. Q1Unsurprisingly, Fusion dominated a session that they really shouldn’t have been part of, with Thunder and Zvironas taking first and second. Ellington showed strong pace for Highwind as well – all three drivers were split by about a tenth. The next driver – Haugland – was about another second off. Nevertheless, it was an impressive display from the BMW driver, as she opened the day with a 2:05.5, which was only beaten by the aforementioned three drivers and later broke into the 2:04s. However, while the top 4 places remained static throughout Q1, there was still plenty of excitement over the other two positions up for grabs. Lamborghini looked all over the place, both drivers complaining of understeer. Ledesma still managed to post some competitive times, but Agostino ran off at turn 1 on several occasions and ended up miles off anyone else bar Stokey – another who didn’t have the right balance with the car. Toyota had a solid showing with their new line up of Ivan Lesic and Danilo Casemiro. But with a few minutes left, it was Matthews and Holzberg who had a fraction of an edge over Toyota and Ledesma. Holzberg and BMW were to be denied, however. Klien, in comparison to teammate Ellington, had an awful session and spun off on the exit of turn 5. It took a late lap to just pip Holzberg to 6th as Highwind got both cars through along with Fusion. BMW still had one car in the race, as did OSM, but Lamborghini and Toyota will be sitting this one out. Q2Q2 started off with plenty of drama, where after the first few runs, Vocquelin locked up and crashed into Michiko, taking both cars out of qualifying. With 26 cars around a racetrack for the first time for eV, there was uncountable traffic issues and while no one else had an accident, plenty of drivers were outraged at being blocked on their best laps. It was all about who could get a time on the board, and it was Klien who did it best, with a high 2:03.8 halfway through the session. Fusion also looked to have some serious pace, as Thunder and Zvironas rounded out the top 3. Front runners Jaguar once again got both cars through in Q2 – though it got a little tight towards the end with Taylor 8th and Hutchinson 9th. Downton did so as well, Maxwell qualifying comfortably, Zozulya less so as he only just sneaked into 10th with his last lap. For Maserati and Porsche, however, there was a big shock in store. Cesar never managed to get in a clean lap, while Yoshida fared better but only salvaged 12th. Bergkvist didn’t do much better, and all three were eliminated along with Vocquelin, and the championship leader – yes, McLaughlin too made several errors and 18th was a major disappointment for Mitsubishi. It was a mixed bag for the other championship leaders in Lada – Ostberg was blocked by Alainz on his best lap and didn’t look good otherwise, but Hudson looked confident on track and a pair of quick laps before the end of the session meant he qualified without drama. Einarsson also showed well, beating Maxwell to 5th to give some hope to Renault. Van Snelheid was the other driver to qualifying, making amends after just missing out on Q3 in “Down Under”. Elsewhere, Garcia was less than a tenth of back-to-back Q3 appearances, while Domenicalli was disappointed to be quite far back after starring in the first race. Kasami gave K8ley a decent starting position however, while Matthews did decent to take 14th. Ellington and Zhao were well off their teammates, but ultimately the big story was Porsche, Maserati, and Mitsubishi all out after Q2. Q3As the day went on, the track started to get hotter and a nice out lap became more crucial to get the tyres into the right temperature window. Hudson was first out to do a lap and got it comically wrong, ended up with a time almost as slow as Agostino in Q1. Zvironas and Klien easily beat him, though still only with high 2:06s.
Maxwell was next out and while a 2:05.5 didn’t look sparkling on its own, it was put into context when a good lap from Taylor ended up clocking a full 7 tenths slower. Zozulya could only split Zvironas and Klien, well off his teammate, while a wide moment at the last corner cost Einarsson the chance to beat Taylor onto the front row. Van Snelheid did well to pip Zvironas, but Maxwell’s lap was looking impervious – until Hutchinson came along. A so-so first sector was followed by a smashing middle one, as he was level with Maxwell. But in the end the Austrian went a touch too deep into the final hairpin and ended up a tenth a bit off Maxwell. Thunder was the last person across the line, and she capped off a fantastic day for Fusion with an impressive 5th place. So, it’s two pole positions in a row for Maxwell, though Hutchinson will be hoping to fight back. Taylor will be looking to make amends for Australia, while the likes of Cesar and McLaughlin will want to salvage their weekend – though let’s not forget Cesar nearly won last time out from a similar position. Join us tomorrow to find out just what will happen in race 2!
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