Home Formula RegionalFRegional Oceania Lynn secures double pole at Taupo

Lynn secures double pole at Taupo

by Valentin Khorounzhiy

Alex Lynn topped both qualifying sessions for round three of the Toyota Racing Series at Taupo, securing pole for races one and three.

Qualifying one saw the times descend rapidly as the drivers warmed up their tyres, leading to frequent leader changes. At first it was Damon Leitch who set the pace for the session, but he was soon one-upped by Nick Cassidy and Steijn Schothorst. The duo proceeded to exchange quickest times until both of them were beaten to pole by Lynn, who set a time of 1m23.915s. Cassidy was just half a tenth off with Schothorst another two tenths down. Bruno Bonifacio took fourth as Jann Mardenborough recorded his best yet qualifying effort in fifth. Lucas Auer was only sixth after he had to recover from a spin closer to the end of the session. Felix Serralles, Leitch, Pipo Derani and Tatiana Calderon completed the top ten.

Lynn’s dominance was far more spelled out in session two, where he set the quickest time of 1m23.372s on his third lap and remained at the top of the timesheets for the majority of the session. Auer beat Cassidy to the front row by 23 thousandths of a second, with Schothorst completing the second row. The Brazilians Bonifacio and Derani locked out row three, while Leitch, Mardenborough, Serralles and Calderon rounded up the top ten.

Qualifying 1 results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Alex Lynn M2 Competition 1m23.915s 6
2 Nick Cassidy M2 Competition 1m23.964s +0.049s 6
3 Steijn Schothorst M2 Competition 1m24.158s +0.243s 8
4 Bruno Bonifacio Giles Motorsport 1m24.423s +0.508s 8
5 Jann Mardenborough ETEC Motorsport 1m24.556s +0.641s 7
6 Lucas Auer Giles Motorsport 1m24.679s +0.764s 6
7 Felix Serralles Giles Motorsport 1m24.751s +0.836s 8
8 Damon Leitch Victory Motor Racing 1m24.763s +0.848s 7
9 Pipo Derani Giles Motorsport 1m24.865s +0.950s 9
10 Tatiana Calderon ETEC Motorsport 1m25.032s +1.117s 7
11 Dennis Olsen M2 Competition 1m25.121s +1.206s 7
12 Nicholas Latifi Giles Motorsport 1m25.195s +1.280s 7
13 Michael Scott Victory Motor Racing 1m25.319s +1.404s 8
14 Andrew Tang ETEC Motorsport 1m25.413s +1.498s 8
15 Akash Nandy ETEC Motorsport 1m25.438s +1.523s 9
16 Spike Goddard M2 Competition 1m25.479s +1.564s 8
17 Tanart Satienthirakul ETEC Motorsport 1m25.483s +1.568s 7
Qualifying 2 results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Alex Lynn M2 Competition 1m23.372s 5
2 Lucas Auer Giles Motorsport 1m23.703s +0.331s 6
3 Nick Cassidy M2 Competition 1m23.725s +0.353s 7
4 Steijn Schothorst M2 Competition 1m23.792s +0.420s 6
5 Bruno Bonifacio Giles Motorsport 1m23.918s +0.546s 7
6 Pipo Derani Giles Motorsport 1m24.229s +0.857s 7
7 Damon Leitch Victory Motor Racing 1m24.278s +0.906s 7
8 Jann Mardenborough ETEC Motorsport 1m24.309s +0.937s 8
9 Felix Serralles Giles Motorsport 1m24.424s +1.052s 7
10 Tatiana Calderon ETEC Motorsport 1m24.846s +1.474s 7
11 Nicholas Latifi Giles Motorsport 1m24.913s +1.541s 7
12 Dennis Olsen M2 Competition 1m24.974s +1.602s 7
13 Andrew Tang ETEC Motorsport 1m25.036s +1.664s 9
14 Michael Scott Victory Motor Racing 1m25.280s +1.908s 10
15 Tanart Satienthirakul ETEC Motorsport 1m25.302s +1.930s 6
16 Akash Nandy ETEC Motorsport 1m25.423s +2.051s 9
17 Spike Goddard M2 Competition 1m25.451s +2.079s 9