Igor Fraga prevails in close battle for New Zealand GP pole

Photo: Toyota Racing NZ

Igor Fraga narrowly beat Caio Collet to take pole for the season-ending New Zealand Grand Prix in the Toyota Racing Series.

The M2 Competition driver managed a 1m2.706s lap to end the session just 0.004s ahead of MTEC Motorsport by R-ace GP’s Collet, with title rival and M2 team-mate Liam Lawson qualifying third a further 0.014s behind.

Qualifying was disrupted twice in the opening five minutes when New Zealand GP veteran Kenny Smith first span then ran off at Higgens Corner, both times bringing out the red flag.

As nobody had set a competitive lap time before the incidents, the session was effectively reduced to a 10 minute shootout.

Fraga set the initial pace, but team-mate Ido Cohen and Collet both took the top spot as lap times tumbled.

Championship leader Lawson left it to the final five minutes of the session before jumping to the top of the order with a 1m02.724s lap around Manfeild, ahead of impressive Kiwi Motorsport duo Spike Kohlbecker and Franco Colapinto.

Fraga managed to shave 0.2s off Lawson?s time with his final lap of the session, putting himself ahead with less than two minutes on the clock.

Lawson was knocked down to third when Collet found improvements and, though he had time for one more lap, a small mistake early in the lap meant he couldn?t better his time.

Title outsider Colapinto will join him on the second row, with fifth placed Kohlbecker just 0.062s off pole.

Qualifying results