Nathaniel Powers has taken a comfortable pole position in Mexico as he seeks to secure a record fourth Drivers' World Championship. The British driver was four tenths of a second clear of his team mate Klaas van Snelheid who joins him on the front row - giving Downton a great chance to secure the Constructors' tomorrow - while the third driver in the title battle - Enrique Ruiz - lines up third on the grid. Q1Having shown relative pace in practice yesterday, Finn Schnyder and AMR headed out on track first, keen for as many attempts as possible to get them into the second part of qualifying. While Schnyder did initially top the times, he slipped back once the Cheema drivers took to the track for their first Q1 appearance since the United States, Tumo Kinnumen leading Nikolai Milkovich some four tenths clear of the AMR duo. Yakumi Takahashi had other ideas though, and promptly moved his Arrow to the head of the time sheets, while Lewis Ellington failed to match his team mate - ending his lap some half a second behind, but still just inside the top four as the two Meteor's rounded out the runners. While Takahashi failed to improve on his second run however, everyone else did. Kinnumen got within 15 thousandths of the Japanese driver, while Nikolai Milkovich also managed to get within a tenth of a second, the trio some way clear of their rivals. Finn Schnyder lapped just over two tenths slower to go fourth, while Rafael Palou got within a tenth of his team mate, but it ultimately proved fruitless. Ellington failed to find the time he needed - setting an identical lap to Palou and therefore ending up behind - but Giani Ledesma once again pulled out a miracle and found a gap inside the top three in which to slot his Meteor, just under four hundredths down on Takahashi and denying Schnyder and AMR for the second race in a row. See below for full Q1 classification: Q2Keen to build on their strong practice pace, Lopez were the first team to make an appearance in Q2, Allar Kangur taking the first fastest time by just over three hundredths from Elroy Wagner, but as their rivals completed laps the two yellow machines slipped to the back end of the top twenty, a now somewhat familiar position. Powers was one of the last drivers to get a time on the board, but by going purple in all three sectors he beat team mate van Snelheid by some seven tenths of a second to move to the top of the times. Ruiz settled into third ahead of Felix Perez - a fourth that delighted the home crowd - while Adrien Simon and Will Hoskins initially found themselves on the third row. As the session progressed, Powers produced a further three laps quicker than anyone else, but couldn't beat his own benchmark, while by the time the chequered flag flew, van Snelheid had only whittled the gap down to four tenths. In a session where the Downton's looked dominant, Ruiz put in a sensational performance to get with two tenths of the Dutchman, and some four tenths clear of his own team mate, as Simon moved himself up to fourth at the end, while Perez failed to even hold Hoskins behind him with a scruffy final lap. Behind the usual top six, Wagner found the pace Lopez showed yesterday to secure an exceptional seventh, though team mate Kangur couldn't match him and failed to improve, resulting in a disappointing starting position of 20th. Following a barren run since his podium at Indianpolis, Jean Mattson appeared to have rediscovered his mojo with a great eighth, while Thierry Xylander and Marcus Thunder completed the top ten, the latter fresh from having been announced as Lucas' lead driver for 2021. Sergio Alvarez put Phoenix in a great position to try and take points out of rivals Westwood and Ocelot in the fight for seventh with eleventh on the grid behind his team mate, while the Manchester outfits rivals could manage no better than fourteenth between them, courtesy of Hunter Ryan, who just saw off Karl Beckenbauer. Puccio Giodano meanwhile lines up nineteenth in a strange session where he just appeared to lack pace, while Dominykas Zvironas could only managed 22nd. Carson Davenport ended the day some way behind his Lucas team mate for the second race running, while Tumo Kinnumen continued his relatively strong Q1 form on his way to eighteenth on the grid. Behind them though, rivals Franklin enduring a difficult session with Enzo Domenicalli their highest placed car in 23rd, and Nick Addison starting last, while Ledesma managed to avoid lining up on the back row of the grid, beating Takahashi by just three hundredths of a second. See below for full Q2 classification:
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