Nick Cassidy set the fastest time in the first qualifying Super Formula Series session at the Twin Ring Motegi in Japan before weather conditions forced the postponement of the second and third sessions.
All the Super Formula cars began Qualifying Session 1 (Q1) with soft tires on, as rain began to fall and spectators started breaking out their umbrellas.
“That was a pretty crazy afternoon,” commented Cassidy. “I even ended up on Provisional Pole Position for a while. I was able to nail my first flying lap in Q1 as the rain was arriving. Q2 and Q3 have been postponed until tomorrow morning.”
With 14:14 seconds left in Q1, most of the drivers headed to the pits to change to wet tires. At that point, it was birthday boy Nick Cassidy, teammate Kenta Yamashita, Kamui Kobayashi in the top 3 spots.
After changing to wet tires, Naoki Yamamoto, Hiroaki Ishiura and other drivers tried their best to record fast laps, but to no avail.
The conditions continued to worsen, and Cassidy, Yamashita, Kamui moved onto Q2 in the top spots. Shortly before Q2 began, it was raining and thundering too hard to continue. Q2 was consequently postponed.
As a result, a free practice session at 09:10 a.m. followed by Q2 and Q3 from 09:20-09:44 a.m. have been scheduled for tomorrow (Aug. 20).
The race will be held after that in the afternoon beginning at 2 p.m. JST.
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