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Saturday, July 13, 2019
Ambient 28C Track 40C Humidity 40% Wind
7 kph
Group 1 Vergne - di Grassi - Evans - Lotterer -
Da Costa
Da Costa was first to blink, followed
by Evans, with just under 3 minutes to go the leading driver thought
to be at a particular disadvantage. Working their way to last, was
Techeetah as the prep laps were underway. Evans was 2nd on the road,
followed by Di Grassi.
But as things go, Techeetah was
immediately on their hotlap and it remained to be seen if that tactic
was going to unsettle their opponents. The increase in track temps
had significantly reduced the available grip and on their way round,
at times it looked more as if Vergne and Lotterer were skating on
ice.
No luck for Di Grassi, who was not
having the best of rounds, but Da Costa was on it and as he cracked
the line it was P1 with a 1:10:845. That moved Vergne to P2, followed
by Evans and then Di Grassi, P4 and Lotterer the lanterne rouge of
the first group.
Group 2 Frijns - Buemi - Abt - Bird
- D'Ambrosio
Buemi, D'Ambrosio and Abt led the way
for group 2 with much less drama than the first group. Early days
Frijn led the way, with all 5 drivers being faster than Da Costa in
the first group. Headed into the hairpin D'Ambrosio had a big slide
and wound up pointing the wrong way on his track. As the came across
the line it was Buemi taking top honours, followed by Bird and Abt.
Frijns lost time in the final sector and wound up coming behind Da
Costa and then D'Ambrosio looked doomed to start last, with a
1:18.262.
As the drivers cycled through the TV
interviews, the dirtiness of the track was perhaps the hottest topic
of all.
Group 3 Rowland - Mortara - Wehrlein -
Massa - Vandoorne - Sims
Rowland and Sims were first off the
line for Group 3, the rest choosing to make just a single lap to set
their time. Massa, Wehrlein and Vandoorne hit the line with just a
minute and a half left on the clock and it was time to get busy.
Vandoorne was first and with a big chunk of oversteer coming out of
T5 he was already behind. Rowland was well on it though as was Sims
behind. P11 though, so a mistake in S2 cost him. Wehrlein kept it in
shape and went P3 with Mortara going P12 and Massa slowest of the
lot, P15 with just D'Ambrosio behind. With one group to go it was
Buemi, Bird, Wehrlein, Sims, Abt and Da Costa doing the watchful
waiting bit.
Group 4 Gunther - Lynn - Paffett - Turvey
- Lopez - Dillmann
Lopez was out first and alone north of
5 minutes left when he hit the circuit. 3 minutes to go and Lynn,
Turvey and Gunther had tossed their hats into the ring and as the
needle ticked down to the 2 minute mark Dillmann joined the fun. 30
seconds later and Paffett was out the door. P6 for Lopez and say
goodbye to Da Costa then Dillmann came a respectable P10 as Alex Lynn
was suddenly setting purple sectors. P13 for Paffet and Turvey went
P16. After losing time in the middle sector, Lynn kept his head in it
and as he hit the line he went P5, pushing Lopez out. So Buemi, Bird,
Wehrlein, Sims, Lynn and Abt got themselves ready for the ultimate
glories of superpole as the rest began plotting their race
strategies.
Super Pole Abt - Lynn - Sims - Wehrlein - Bird
- Buemi
Unlike the other sessions, Super Pole
runs slowest to fastest thus Daniel Abt was first to have a go. He
lined up at the pit exit and as the light went green he was off. Not
too fast, he dawdled his way through the tricky T11 and as he lined
up for the start finish he was on full power and off. Purpled the
first sector neat through the hairpin, losing 4 tenths through the
middle sector though and it was a 1:10.894 which would have put him
tenth against the previous times.
Lynn was next to go and he purpled S1
but unlike Abt he carried on into S2 and as he neatly rounded T14 it
was to the top for him, with a 1:10.696. On replay, it was clear to
see him bouncing all the way through T13.
Sims was next to light it up and it
wasn't a good start for him, down 4 tenths. He managed a decent
comeback, fastest in the last 2 sectors but the mistake out of T3
cost him, and it was P3 by 0.005 seconds with Wehrlein next up. He
was much neater in the first sector, but still more than a tenth off.
He made up for it in S2 and kept pushing, tkaing top honors in S3 as
well as the top spot for the moment, as Bird was now off for his shot
at pole.
Into the dust on the way into T2 and
fighting the car all the way through the first sector it was a torrid
run for Bird. He lost another tenth in S2, with a lockup and only a
purple S3 to salve his pride, precious little given he wound up
nearly half a second back of Sims.
Buemi was the last to go, and he a neat
and tidy, as one would expect from a Swiss driver. Up a tenth through
S1. Purple S2 and then with only Bird faster in S3 he was up and into
pole position. Wehrlein, Lynn, Abt, Sims and Bird rounded out the top
6 positions.
— Nissan NISMO (@NISMO) July 13, 2019
Looking at the times, it was Jaguar
with the fastest first sector, Nissan with the fastest second sector
and Envision Virgin with the fastest third sector. But of more note
was the starting positions of those still chasing the championship.
Vergne (130 points) starting P10, whilst Di Grassi P14 (98 points)
starting P14 definitely worked in favor of the current championship
leader. Buemi (76 points) nailing pole position did him a world of
good chasing Frijns (81 points) starting P9.
Also worth considering is the effect
the track temperature and surface was having on the cars, with
several losing it in the dust as they got offline and others locking
up severely as they bounced into a braking zone. The race isn't run
on open city streets, it's a storage area and lot for cruise ships
that is directly on the water so dirt accumulates and without regular
traffic to clear it, simply layers on the ashphalt. Even with trucks
cleaning the track regularly, going the slightest bit offline will be
potentially punishing, particularly as the hot tyres pick up grit on
their surface causing the drivers to lose even more tractions till
they can clean them. In other words, it should be an exciting show
down...
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