Australian racer Jackson Walls turned the form book on its head in the second qualifying session at Teretonga to claim a sensational pole position for the feature race at the second round of the Castrol Toyota Racing series at Teretonga Park.
The 17 year old – driving for in-form team mtec Motorsport – showed his
hand late in the session to take his best starting position in the New
Zealand championship series, and his first pole position. It was a
complete turnaround from a disappointing Saturday which saw him retire
from the weekend’s first race.
He was elated after the session, in which the top six drivers were
covered by just one and half tenths of a second. “I’m astounded,” he
said. “I can’t thank my team enough, my parents, everyone just to get me
here. I didn’t think it would happen this early.
“There wasn’t any approach to the strategy, other than just getting out
there and doing laps so in that regard I treated it like a practice
session.”
The 15 minute session proved to be an absolute thriller as half a dozen
drivers traded fastest times on the challenging, but fast 2.57km
Invercargill circuit.
Kiwi Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto was the first into the fast groove,
overcoming some slippery conditions on the track to be the first under
the benchmark 55 second mark. His time was soon bettered by Saturday
winner Caio Collet, who went under the 54 second mark only to see Lawson
better his last the next time round. At the halfway mark Yuki Tsunoda
popped up towards the top of the timesheets in third as he too dipped
under the 54 second lap mark. Next time around he went even quicker to
eclipse Collet’s mark. He then went quickest on his ninth lap, hitting
the 53.7 mark to go quickest.
Lawson responded and went quicker, but a trip into the gravel for
Emilien Denner at Turn 2 – when he was avoiding Petr Ptacek’ s car –
brought out the red just before he and Tsunoda completed their laps and
the order remained Tsunoda first and Lawson second.
With just under five minutes to go before the session restarted it was a
1-2 for the Red Bull Juniors with Yuki Tsunoda heading Liam Lawson.
Collet was a solid third just a couple of tenths down who was in turn
only a few hundredths of a second up on Igor Fraga.
Lawson’s first flying lap after the restart was good enough to pip
Tsunoda’ s best as Jackson Walls also went quick to pop up into fourth
place. Tsunoda then briefly went quicker before Jackson Walls went
fastest. It was all on in the dying seconds as Igor Fraga looked to have
sealed it in the dying seconds before Walls put in the best lap of the
weekend to take pole position for the Spirit of the Nation Trophy
feature race.
Lawson had one more effort in his pocket but came up short by just under
four hundredths of a second to join the Australian young gun on the
front row.
Fraga’s time was good enough for third on the grid, while Lucas
Petersson put in his best qualifying performance of the championship so
far with a late effort to seal the final spot on the second row. Tsunoda
wound up fifth on the grid in his Red Bull liveried M2 Competition car
alongside Oliver Rasmussen in his mtec car. Saturday winner Collet was a
disappointed seventh with Kiwi Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto lining up
eighth. The top ten for the Sunday afternoon feature race will be
completed by Grégoire Saucy of Switzerland and Puerto Rican Jose Blanco.
Castrol Toyota Racing Series – Round 2 Teretonga Park – Qualifying 2
1. Jackson Walls – mtec Motorsport
2. Liam Lawson – M2 Competition
3. Igor Fraga – M2 Competition
4. Lucas Petersson – mtec Motorsport
5. Yuki Tsunoda – M2 Competition
6. Oliver Rasmussen – mtec Motorsport
7. Caio Collet – mtec Motorsport
8. Franco Colapinto – Kiwi Motorsport
9. Grégoire Saucy – Giles Motorsport
10. Petr Ptacek – mtec Motorsport
11. Jose Blanco – Kiwi Motorsport
12. Lirim Zendeli – Giles Motorsport
13. Emilien Denner – M2 Competition
14. Ido Cohen – M2 Competition
15. Spike Kohlbecker – Kiwi Motorsport
16. Rui Andrade – M2 Competition
17. Axel Gnos – Kiwi Motorsport
18. Henning Enqvist – Giles Motorsport
DNS: Chelsea Herbert – Giles Motorsport
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