In Qualifying 2, MP Motorsport driver Tuukka Taponen impressively beat title hopeful Ugo Ugochukwu to the Aramco Pole Position Award for Feature Race 2. The Campos Racing driver was also fourth in Q1, while his rival Freddie Slater struggled, finishing 17th in the opening session, and eighth in Q2.
QUALIFYING 1
Kato was the first driver to cross the line and completed a 1:51.127. But no one else could match the ART driver with Alex Powell 0.161s behind in second. It was not good news for TRIDENT, with Noah Stromsted’s sidepod coming loose after contact on the warmup lap with Kanato Le, while Slater complained of issues with the car.
On the second set of laps, Kato improved to a 1:50.639, with Jin Nakamura 0.218s behind in P2. The Japanese drivers were demoted a position moments later when Rodin Motorsport’s Clerot went quickest on a 1:50.547.
In the battle for the title Slater was down in P11. The Championship leader was still complaining of issues with his car. TRIDENT brought their driver in and fitted him with a new set of Hard tyres, while the rest of the field continued on.
Kato improved to a 1:50.535 to eclipse Clerot by 0.012s as Ugochukwu went to P4. Slater, despite the new rubber, came on the radio to complain of issues on his TRIDENT. Elsewhere, Brando Badoer’s session looked to be over after he hit the barrier, with Rodin left in a race against time to fix his left rear suspension ahead of Qualifying 2.
Out on track, Kato could not improve on his final lap of Q1. But neither could his rivals, leaving him on pole for Feature Race 1, with Clerot settling for P2 ahead of Taponen. Ugochukwu was fourth in front of Enzo Deligny, as Jin Nakamura followed in sixth ahead of Ernesto Rivera and Alessandro Giusti. Bruno del Pino ended up in P9, heading Alex Powell and Théophile Nael, while James Wharton rounded out the top 12.
The PREMA Racing driver is set to start Saturday’s Sprint Race from reverse grid pole, with Q1 setting the grid for the first race of the weekend. In the title fight, Slater’s struggles continued, with a lockup at Turn 1 leaving him down in P17 in the first Qualifying session, much to his frustration.
QUALIFYING 2
After a short break the drivers were back out on track. This included Slater with TRIDENT having worked to fix his car in the break between the sessions. The British driver looked to be back in the groove as he completed a 1:49.972 to go fastest, with Ugochukwu in second, over half a second behind his title rival.
Clerot and Badoer, who was back out on track with his car fixed, went up to second and third, although Nakamura split the Rodin duo moments later. On the second set of laps, Kato jumped up to P1 only for Ugochukwu to demote him to P2 moments later with a 1:49.901.
Clerot continued his strong form to take over at the top with a 1:49.830. Slater, having set the fastest first sector, locked up on the entry to Turn 5, leaving him fifth. Ugochukwu then reclaimed P1 with a 1:49.771 as Slater aborted his lap and returned to the pit lane. Clerot finished his next lap to go to P2, 0.069s off the Campos driver.
On the final lap of the day, Taponen went quickest on a 1:49.750. Ugochukwu came across the line but could not improve and stayed second. Behind them, Clerot had been on for a fast lap, but he pushed too hard at the final corner, winding up in the barriers, bringing the session to an end.
This left Taponen on pole for Feature Race 2 ahead of Ugochukwu and Clerot, with Kato in fourth ahead of Mattia Colnaghi. Deligny was sixth ahead of Giusti and Slater, with Yevan David in P9. Rivera was 10th ahead of Badoer and Powell. The first race of the Madrid weekend is on Saturday morning with lights out for the Sprint set for 11:05 local time.
