Enrique Ruiz has taken pole position for the 2018 Japanese V-Prix as rain doused the Fuji circuit for qualifying, just pipping Klaas van Snelheid in the dying seconds. Rain began to fall around an hour prior to the session getting underway, resulting in a very wet track greeting the drivers as they tentatively ventured out once the light went green. As the session ran on, the rain lightened and times improved, with the most improvements coming in the dying minutes of the session, following a ten-minute red flag period brought about following a collision between Ryota Yoshida and Olen Inman. The Monegasque had been sat provisionally third on the grid behind Nathaniel Powers and Adrien Simon - reversing the front row from Australia - before he was wiped out at turn one by a locked up Yoshida. Inman had just completed a quick lap and was running wide in the corner to allow the home hero through, but Yoshida misjudged his braking, ended up off the racing line and on the wetter part of the circuit and clattered into the side of the Franklin, eliminating both from the session on the spot. Once the session got back underway the drivers took a few laps to get back into the groove, but with just four minutes left on the clock, purple and green lit up the timing screens. First Vasquez took the top spot and when both Ruiz and Simon fell short it looked like the Colombian rookie would take a shock pole position, but Puccio Giodano misplaced the Ingram before being knocked from pole by Allar Kangur. The Estonian just missed the cut for a final lap however and it cost him dear, slipping to eighth by the sessions end. Simon first took pole as Mattson split them, before Powers once again resumed the top spot. The session was far from over however, as the two drivers who arguably had the worst weekends in Australia traded fastest sectors. Ruiz was a tenth up in sector one but the advantage swung to van Snelheid in sector two as the Dutchman led by half a tenth. He misplaced his team mate by a tenth to take provisional pole and a Downton front row lock out, but a stunning final sector from Ruiz saw him lap 0.039 quicker and take the top spot. Behind him Giodano slotted into fourth while Will Hoskins managed seventh to push Kangur down to his final position. Vasquez ended up ninth ahead of Elroy Wagner - the German with a great lap for Lopez to complete the top ten - while Inman and Yoshida slipped to fourteenth and fifteenth after missing the final flurry as a result of the earlier collision. The last driver over the line was Carson Davenport, who stunned with thirteenth place for Phoenix. See below for full qualifying classification and grid with tyre choices: Comments are closed.
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