As expected torrential rain affected the final qualifying session of the season in Brazil, but for a season record tenth time it was Nathaniel Powers who won out and will start on pole position for tomorrow's title decider. Powers' lap time of 1:18.971 was set around the mid-point of the session when the best conditions were, with very few improvements coming afterwards. It was his tenth pole of 2017 - a new record for most in a season - and twelfth overall, tying Adrien Simon and Will Hoskins at the top of the list.
The former very nearly displaced the Brit in the dying seconds however. One of few to improve late on, the outgoing Champion squeezed his DS Mathershaw into the 0.045 second gap between the two Downton's and onto the front row, crucially pushing Klaas van Snelheid down to third. Klaas leads the Championship by eight points heading into the race, but if it now finishes as it starts the Dutchman will lose out by two points. A phenomenal effort from Johan Halvosen sees the Dane join the Championship leader on the second row, in what is his swansong race for Meteor before switching to North Start next season. Arden Hutchinson - who looks as though he's about to start his final Formula Virtual race for the time being - was only marginally knocked off the second row by 0.005, and will share the row three with Tumo Kinnumen, who Westwood will be hoping can pick up strong points to keep the team ahead of Franklin in the Constructors' Championship. Elroy Wagner was another surprise appearance in the top ten in ninth place just behind Lewis Ellington, with Holmqvist looking to capitalise on poor starting positions for rivals North Star in their battle over sixth place in the Constructors' standings. The majority of drivers are on Softs and Mediums for tomorrow's race with the exception of Hugh Dwyer who will run on the Super Softs. Crucially both Championship contenders - and Simon between them - all run on the Soft compound, ensuring a fair fight in Sau Paulo for the 2017 Formula Virtual World Drivers' Championship. See below for full qualifying classification and grid with tyre choices for the race:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|