{"id":886,"date":"2014-04-26T12:12:39","date_gmt":"2014-04-26T10:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/b106543.web05.cust.bluerange.se\/?p=886"},"modified":"2014-04-26T13:37:16","modified_gmt":"2014-04-26T11:37:16","slug":"massive-pole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/felixracing.se\/en\/massive-pole\/","title":{"rendered":"Frenetic pole scrap in Portugal \u2013 top three on the same tenth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Algarve-24\"<\/a>Felix was involved in a titanic clash\u00a0over pole position\u00a0as qualifying for Sunday’s second FA1 race took centre stage at Portim\u00e3o on Saturday morning, with the top three runners again dominating proceedings to lap within one tenth of a second.<\/p>\n

In conditions slightly chillier than those experienced in Qualifying 1 yesterday afternoon<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0drivers managed to squeeze out two fast laps from the Michelin tyres, with Felix being the first of the\u00a0expected frontrunners to hit the track some ten minutes into the session.<\/p>\n

He immediately\u00a0leapt to the top of the timesheets as he out-paced\u00a0Team Germany’s Sebastian Balthasar by over\u00a0a second,\u00a0setting a time of 1m32.289s to beat yesterday’s pole position\u00a0benchmark (set by Team Italy’s Mirko Bortolotti) by four tenths.<\/p>\n

Bortolotti\u00a0headed out just moments later, completing\u00a0his first flying lap\u00a0a\u00a0wobbling 0.001 seconds slower than Felix to signal\u00a0the start of a frantic battle for top slot.<\/p>\n

On his second flyer, Bortolotti managed to\u00a0edge out some vital extra fractions to demote Felix to second by just 0.085s, with Team\u00a0Netherlands’s Nigel Melker then joining the scrap to\u00a0take\u00a0P2\u00a0– 0.001s adrift of Bortolotti – on his final attempt.<\/p>\n

Felix set the fastest\u00a0times of the session in both the first and second sectors, but lost a vital tenth\u00a0in Sector 3 as he continued to suffer from the same inexplicable\u00a0engine cut-off issues<\/strong><\/a> that have\u00a0compromised\u00a0the Team Sweden assault\u00a0over a crest at\u00a0the final corner. The outcome of the session will see Felix start from third on the grid for tomorrow’s 45-minutes feature race.<\/p>\n

The 30-minute Race 1 – in which Felix will also set off from third – gets underway this afternoon.<\/p>\n

FELIX:<\/p>\n

“We have made some good progress overnight, and doing a second flying lap – something we didn’t do yesterday – was the right way to go in these slightly colder temperatures.\u00a0We could have been on pole today if I’d just got my lap together;\u00a0I made a\u00a0couple of mistakes\u00a0and\u00a0we obviously lost some time due to the problems we’re having in the final corner. Being purple (outright fastest) in Sectors 1 and 2 indicates that\u00a0the pace is there, although I would have loved to be on the front row considering\u00a0how close it eventually was.\u00a0We’re now focussing on the first race this afternoon – there will be a lot of unknowns, and another new experience for me.\u00a0I’m ready to take the fight to Mirko and Nigel.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Sk\u00e4rmklipp\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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FA1 Portim\u00e3o:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[star_list]<\/p>\n