Nathaniel Powers has taken his fourth consecutive pole position ahead of the season-closing Brazilian V-Prix, but had to bounce back from a spin early on that nearly ended his session. Powers' title rivals line up right behind him, with Klaas van Snelheid securing the seventh Downton front row lockout of the season - all of which have occurred in the last nine races - and Enrique Ruiz once again seeing off team mate Adrien Simon for third. Q1Before the Championship contenders could get on track to duke it out for pole position, the bottom four teams in the Championship had to scrap to make the session. This was made easier for Cheema, AMR and Meteor however when Arrow missed the strategy deadline, meaning an automatic failure to qualify. Despite this the German outfit participated, where Yakumi Takahashi once again showed his worth with the top time, though he was deposed right at the end by Finn Schnyder, with the Swiss racer giving AMR only their fourth start of the season. Nikolai Milkovich was comfortable in third, but the second Cheema of Diego Campos only just squeaked through, five thousandths quicker than Giani Ledesma, and only 11 thousandths clear of Felix Beyer, as the two Meteor's showed far better pace than practice. Behind them Lewis Ellington was over half a second slower than team mate Takahashi in what looks as though it may be his final Formula Virtual outing, while Rafael Palou was over a second slower than his team mate Schnyder, and with no seat secured for 2021, looks likely to hold the unenviable record of never having started a race he has entered. See below for full Q1 classification: Note: Both Arrow cars were excluded from the session for missing the strategy deadline. Q2With those taking part in the race decided, the attention turned to the pole position battle - with Ruiz leading the contenders out, keen to give the home crowd something to cheer about. Not a handful of minutes later he did exactly that with a provisional pole position time, but just seconds after the crowd cheered even louder, as it came to light Powers had spun through the flat out left hand kink on the way to the line. The Championship leader gingerly drove back to the pits on severely flat spotted tyres, with replays showing he came inches from wiping the front left corner off his Downton on the inside barrier. Amidst the chaos however Ruiz had been deposed with van Snelheid now on provisional pole, and Powers without a lap time sparing the blushes of Lopez, who held the two slowest qualifying times after the first run. As the session ticked on Powers finally got a lap time in, but traffic meant it was nowhere near the pace it could be and he only just squeaked inside the top ten. Ruiz and van Snelheid were also baulked by traffic on numerous occasions, before Powers finally found a gap and shot to the top of the times. Ruiz failed to improve, but a purple middle sector from van Snelheid gave him a chance, though the Dutchman just fell a tenth short. Adrien Simon ended up fourth having never been close to the top three and only just lapping quick enough to beat out the FIRST duo, while Jean Mattson continued his form from practice to take best of the rest honours in seventh. Carson Davenport finally found the pace his team mate Marcus Thunder had unlocked in the Lucas in recent races to split the Ingram's, while a stellar effort from Nick Addison got the Franklin driver into the top ten. Allar Kangur bounced back from a dismal first run to put his Lopez eleventh ahead of Johan Halvosen and Puccio Giodano. The Italian was disappointed with his position, but still starts ahead of Westwood's rivals Ocelot and Phoenix. Hunter Ryan is the highest of those in fifteenth just ahead of the second Westwood of Karl Beckenbauer, while Dominykas Zvironas and the two Phoenix cars lines up between 19th and 21st, James Thompson only lapping half a tenth slower than Sergio Alvarez - though the Argentine driver appeared to suffer warm-up issues through the session. Another driver to struggle was Marcus Thunder - who just couldn't string together a decent lap and starts 22nd as a result, while Finn Schnyder couldn't quite replicate his heroics of Q1, but does line up ahead of Giani Ledesma on the back row. See below for full Q2 classification:
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