Today featured qualifying and Round 5 of the 2011 AFR Series during the weekend¡¯s Pan Delta Race Festival.
Qualifying started at 10:10am under sunny skies, with wet spots remaining on the track from the morning¡¯s rain. Drivers started on slick tires and all exited the pit lane at the start of the session with the exception of Alexey Karachev, who chose to start the session late to save his tires for the race. Qualifying was full of surprises as many were expecting PS Racing¡¯s Leopold Ringbom to dominate qualifying after posting times 1.5 seconds in front during Friday¡¯s official practice. However, from the outset of qualifying, Champ Motorsport¡¯s Yuki Shiraishi of Japan placed himself at the top of the time sheet and managed to hold onto pole. This is the second pole position for Shiraishi in two AFR weekends, despite a challenge from Ringbom as the Finnish PS Racing driver became much quicker during today¡¯s qualifying after coming into the pit for car adjustments.
In the end, Champ Motorsport¡¯s Alexey Karachev of Russia, who started qualifying with ten minutes left, managed to take P2 from Ringbom by five hundredths of a second. PS Racing¡¯s Timothy Teo had a strong performance as the only other driver in the 39¡¯s. Unfortunately, despite doing well in Friday¡¯s official practice, FRD Racing¡¯s Diana Rosario suffered a flat tire on her 2nd qualifying lap and will start Round 5 from the back of the grid.
Position |
Car No. |
Name |
Team |
Time |
1 |
27 |
Yuki Shiraishi |
Champ Motorsport |
1:39.056 |
2 |
47 |
Alexey Karachev |
Champ Motorsport |
1:39.100 |
3 |
25 |
Leopold Ringbom |
PS Racing |
1:39.153 |
4 |
15 |
Timothy Teo |
PS Racing |
1:39.404 |
5 |
34 |
Tsutomu Achiha |
Champ Motorsport |
1:40.577 |
6 |
8 |
Matthew Lock |
FRD Racing Team |
1:40.979 |
7 |
6 |
Guille Pintanel |
Champ Motorsport |
1:41.221 |
8 |
38 |
Victor Yung |
Champ Motorsport |
1:41.797 |
9 |
26 |
Alexandra Asmasoebrata |
PS Racing |
1:42.813 |
10 |
11 |
Diana Rosario |
FRD Racing Team |
2:01.180 |
|
