With the rain staying at the Red Bull Ring for qualifying, Tumo Kinnumen pipped teammate Enrique Ruiz to his first ever pole position as Franklin locked out the front row. Q1The rain was already very heavy for Q1, as drivers lapped around 2 seconds slower then yesterday. Ocelot and AMR were the first to go out and Finn Schnyder quickly went fastest from Puccio Giodano. Soon the rest of the teams joined, but the first red flag of the day came out when Carson Davenport, having placed 7th behind the AMRs, Ocelots and Andromedas, crashed at turn 5. His crash had spewed gravel and debris all over the track and the delay was long. Once the session got underway everyone except Schnyder and Davenport went back out. Giodano was on a quick lap but spun at the last corner, bringing out the yellow flags. His teammate Hunter Ryan was lucky to come just as they were withdrawn and set the fastest lap, albeit by just a few thousandths from Schnyder. His teammate however dropped down to 6th, with Diego Campos, Nikolai Milkovich, Davenport and Arden Hutchinson. Ryan decided to not go again, as did Will Hoskins who had slotted into third. Rodolfo de la Fuente went for another run and put in a great lap to jump his teammate into third. Milkovich, who was struggling after losing track time on Friday, managed to pull together a lap to get onto fifth ahead of his teammate. A late push from Dmytro Kovalenko however saw him jump into sixth, ahead of Campos by just two thousandths. The big loser however was Giodano. A lock up destroyed his tyres and he could only watch as he fell to 8th. Davenport ended 9th, ahead of just Hutchinson who never felt comfertable with the car. See the full Q1 classification below: Q2As teams prepared for Q2, one team didn't. AMR elected to not participate to save tyres for the race, as so locked themselves into the back row.
The rain didn't ease up much and that became clear as Jean Mattson brought out a red flag just 10 minutes into the session after another crash, this time at turn 1. The Frenchman was the first to go out but hadn't set a full speed lap time yet and so will start 24th. Once the mess was cleared more drivers came onto the track, though none of the top three teams did, and Felix Beyer surprisingly went fastest, after yesterdays struggles. Then the two Mathershaws came out, but Adrien Simon didn't seem happy with his set up, unable to beat Beyer while his teammate went fastest. Downton followed and more heads turned when Klaas van Snelheid was unable to beat Beyer, but his team Nathaniel Powers went fastest from Kangur. He was soon beaten by Kinnumen though after a stonking lap from the Finn, but his teammate Enrique Ruiz was in no mood for games, going faster. Apart from the top six, Will Hoskins pulled off a stunning performance to go seventh ahead of another impressive performer in James Vasquez. Simon continued to circulate but couldn't improve. Behind him Felix Perez was also having a bad day, running wide at turns 1 and 2 on several occasions, leaving him 12th. FIRST's fellow 2016 team North Star also were not having a good qualifying, with Gabriele Garcia 13th and Johan Halvosen, after his good performance yesterday, spinning three times and only placing 16th. Lewis Ellington meanwhile was only 14th, behind teamate Mario Juan Lopez in 11th. The highest placed Q1 runner after Hoskins' fabulous effort was Ryan in 19th, just ahead of Milkovich in 20th. At this point the rain got heavier and it showed when Sebastian Bergkvist, just 23rd, aquapladed on the second striagt after turn 1 and hit the barriers. His car was thrown back onto the racing line and the red flags came out. Once the Holmqvist was cleared away no one risked going back onto the track - except Kinnumen. The Finn was seen pleading to his team to allow another run and he got it, crossing the line with a second to spare. He went fastest in sector 1, but a moment in sector 2 seemed to have cost him pole. He nailed the last two corners however and by the skin of his teeth took pole from Ruiz, his first ever. See the full Q2 classification and tyre choices below:
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