After dropping out of the Chinese eV-Prix thanks to mechanical gremlins, Kip Maxwell bounced back in the best way possible by taking another dominant pole, while just behind him Arrow boasted their best qualifying position ever and OSM had a storming session. Q1After Fusion and Highwind's exploits in China, it was K8ley, BMW, Thunderhead, OSM, Lamborghini and Toyota in Q1 - which shaped up for a rather competitive session in the fight for the top 6 positions. Similar to before, there were two drivers in a class of their own. This time, it was Domenicalli and Matthews, who ended up first and second respectively, some one second clear of anyone else. It was quite clear both had gotten their car's set up spot up, though their teammates were stuck in a tight battle with the rest - bar Agostino, who had another shocker, well off the pace. Despite a gusty drive last time out, Haugland didn't show great pace, though Holzberg's early laps put him in 5th, behind Stokey and Kasami. Ledesma's best first effort yielded 6th, while surprisingly, it was Thunderhead under early pressure as neither driver had a clean lap, both locking up several times to leave Garcia and Bruner with a lot to do. Stokey and Holzberg were the first to put in their last lap times, and good efforts from the pair ensured they would qualify. Haugland and Casemiro were the first to be knocked out as they failed to improve - followed by Garcia, a big turn in form after his performances in the first two races. There was brief joy for Thunderhead as Bruner knocked out Ledesma - resigning Lamborghini to another double DNQ - before Lesic put in what he described as the lap of his career to power his Toyota into 5th, giving him his first eV start of the season. Kasami failed to improve on his last lap but nevertheless sneaked through in 6th, meaning both K8ley's, OSM's, Holzberg and Lesic made it through, at the expense of both Lamborghini's, Thunderhead's, Haugland and Casemiro. Q2Given the chance of an incident around Macau, several top teams decided to go out first, namely Downton and Jaguar. Both teams looked by far the best and would remain in the top 4 throughout the session - ominously, Maxwell was almost a second up on his rivals with a 2:17.3. Maserati were having a much worse time of it however - neither driver could break into the 2:18s, Yoshida in the low 19s and Cesar even further off. Several Q1 teams went out early to keep up their momentum, though Domenicalli seemed to have lost his magic touch of Q1, much slower than everyone else. OSM looked much better however, as a sterling effort from Matthews saw him nearly unsurp Hutchinson for 4th. Other teams filtered on: both Renaults - unsurprisingly in one case and surprisingly in another - struggled, Einarsson failing to beat even Cesar and Alaniz further back, while Fusion's Zvironas put in a lap that looked good enough for the top 10. As the track got more and more busier, it became harder to get a clean lap in despite the length of the circuit - the tightness meant coming across even one car was a major disadvantage. Vocquelin found out that when he repeated failed to rope together his best sectors and was nearly a second off Bergkvist - he ended up not making the cut. Bergkvist would though, as would van Snelheid and Stokey, both of whom got good banker laps in that counted by the end of the session. Van Snelheid's teammate didn't have a great time though, Zhao brushing the barrier a few times as he ended the session well down the field. Several other drivers looked way out of their depth as well - Klien and Ostberg struggled, as did Holzberg, while Michiko was frightingly slow, about 5 seconds off Maxwell. It didn't go much better for her teammate either: McLaughlin could only manage 12th as he faced his second Q2 elimination in a row. Championship leader Sam Hudson was a merger 15th after nearly crashing on his last lap, meaning both Lada's failed to reach Q3. Neither Maserati improved from earlier on, continuing their run of never making Q3 this year. Ellington couldn't put Highwind into the top 10, while Thunder was unable to match her teammate. There was some joy for K8ley however as Kasami managed to beat Yoshida to 10th, the Swiss driver's first Q3 appearance. Q3Brimmed with confidence, Maxwell was the first out and sent shivers through the paddock - a 1:17.308, identical to his lap time in Q2, looked scarcely beatable. Teammate Zozulya was out next and while his lap was quite scruffy, a 1:18.9 didn't bode well for the rest of the runners. Jaguar decided to respond by sending Hutchinson out first - the Austrian's lap was similarly poor compared to his earlier effort but nevertheless enough to pip Zozulya.
Taylor decided to hold back, and Zvironas was the next to run. The Fusion driver looked to be trying too hard though, nearly 2 seconds off Zozulya. He was however ahead of Kasami, who sloted behind the Fusion but nevertheless was very happy with his maidin Q3 appearance. Stokey was next - a 20 dead looked even better when Bergkvist couldn't beat it. Matthews smashed it though, and OSM were staring at a 4-5 with 2 drivers left to run. Matthews lap wasn't perfect, but less mistakes than his rivals were key to almost breaking into the 1:18s. Taylor finally went out - despite an impressive effort, just a thousandth slower than his Q2 lap, it was still nowhere close to Maxwell, though it did place the Brit on the front row. Arrow held van Snelheid back until the last moment. Using every ounce of his experience, he threaded his car through the walls smoothly and precisely - 3rd on the grid was a just reward for what was a fantastic lap and it gave the Arrow garage plenty to cheer about. Ultimately though, the day belonged to Maxwell. It's down to his teammate, the Jaguars and van Snelheid to do what they can to stop him. OSM could be looking at a handy points haul, while Bergkvist and Zvironas will think they can make up a few places. McLaughlin and Hudson are facing another required comeback drive - though do remember, Hudson has already pulled off two exceptional comebacks. Cesar and Einarsson, meanwhile, will be looking to just salvage this weekend. Will Maxwell finally finish a race a take a win? Can van Snelheid step on the podium for Arrow? Will Lada still be leading the championship after this weekend? Is Ivan Lesic going to pull off a masterclass win from 19th? Join us tomorrow to find out.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2024
Categories |