Enrique Ruiz pulled off an excellent performance today to make the most of track evolution and put his car in pole position for tomorrow's race, while rivals Powers and Addison struggled in a session that saw some aggressive qualifying strategies unfold. Q1 AMR made it four starts in two races thanks to their Q1 performances, with Schnyder once again leading the way over his rivals. A 1:27.064 saw him 14 hundredths clear of the nearest car piloted by Yakumi Takahashi, who was able to split the AMRs. The final spot from Q1 was snapped up by Nikolai Milkovich, who found himself over 2 tenths clear of his teammate with an excellent 1:27.5. With a promising laptime under half a second down on Schnyder, Highwind will be glad to get some running and a chance to get a race result. However fellow non-qualifiers last round Meteor had no such luck and once again filled out the bottom two spots, over a second off of the lead pace and over 4 tenths off of the nearest car of Zander Brynildsen. Deltas for the bottom four of Q1 have been included in overall classification, showing gaps to the 4th placed car in the session. Q2 As the session began under the beautiful sun, several drivers chose to delay their running, most notably Ruiz, Forini, Wagner, and Giodano. Van Snelheid and Simon began trading times at the top initially, a back and forth which would go on throughout the session. Hoskins and Perez were close behind, with FIRST looking to be back in a position they might've expected to find themselves in. However Addison, Powers and Kangur looked slightly lost out on track, finding themselves all unable to string together a particularly good lap. By the time those who emerged from their garages later had begun setting laps, the trio found themselves fighting just to start inside the top ten. Ocelot were looking solid, with Giodano fighting inside the top ten and Ryan only a few tenths off, while Schnyder found buckets of time over the lap he had recorded to lead Q1. Lucas looked farther back than at the opening round but certainly didn't struggle for pace, while unfortunately the same could not be said for North Star, Ingram, and Westwood. Xylander stepped back into the car for the first time in a competitive session since Mexico last season, and took to the track like a duck to water; looking comfortably ahead of teammate Alvarez for the full duration of qualifying. At the back of the grid meanwhile, Takahashi and Milkovich seemed to struggle, unable to get closer than a few tenths off of the Westwoods whose car seemed to struggle in the high temperatures. As the session reached its final moments, it was Wagner who struck first, with a 1:25.829 good enough to land him on provisional pole. However he was quickly denied a repeat of his pole position last week as Ruiz bested his time by nearly 15 hundredths of a second. Van Snelheid, Simon and Hoskins had looked strong at the start of the session, but in going out too early had taken the best out of their tyres before the track rubbered in properly; putting them 3rd to 5th respectively until Forini set an excellent lap and found himself on the front row, just over 1 hundredth ahead of Wagner. Giodano also used his fresher tyres to great effect and was able to secure 8th place on the grid, just behind Felix Perez by 6 thousandths. Further back, it was Powers who lost the fight, with Kangur winning out and Addison slotting in neatly to round out the top ten. Schnyder was able to best his Q1 time by over 8 tenths in the end, a phenomenal effort that sees him line up alongside the defending world champion. Xylander closed out the session the same way he had spent its entirety; finding himself 3 tenths clear of his teammate and ahead of Max Meyer in the second AMR. Brock Kidd struggled, qualifying just inside the top 20. As the only driver on soft tyres, he may be in for a long race tomorrow. Looking backwards, Ingram occupied 20th and 21st in another disappointing session for them, while Alvarez completed the 11th row behind them. Westwood filled out the second last row unable to set three consecutively quick sectors, with Takahashi and Milkovich round out the grid. See full classification below. There is very little variation in strategy for the race, with all but one car on the grid starting on mediums or hards. However, crucially, the top 3 are all starting on a faster tyre than the first four drivers behind. This could create a large divide between the top three and any of their rivals that struggled in the lower reaches of the top ten. As ever, thankyou for reading, and we can't wait for you to join us on the grid for tomorrow's race!
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