Carlos Sainz expressed his surprise after he secured the first pole position of his Formula One career for Sunday's British Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver pipped championship leader Max Verstappen and team-mate Charles Leclerc to first on the grid, putting him at the front for what will be the 150th start of his career.
A wet session at Silverstone left everything to play for heading into the final minute of qualifying, but none were able to better Sainz's time of 1:40.983, finishing less than a hundredth of a second ahead of Red Bull's Verstappen.
While it was enough to secure a landmark result for the Spaniard, he did not believe his lap would be top of the pile.
"It was a good lap, I was struggling a lot with the standing water with the intermediates. It was very easy to get snaps and lose the lap, also very easy to lose the tyres," he said.
"In the end, I put in a lap that I thought was nothing special, I just put it on the board and see how it is and it was pole position, which cannot be a bad surprise."
Sainz will now be seeking the maiden win of his career and, having shown improvements in Canada with a second-placed finish behind Verstappen, believes he has the potential to do exactly that.
"The base has been there all weekend. We had some issues that we think we have corrected. If I base myself on my FP2 pace, I think we will be in a good position. I'm sure Max and Charles will put on a lot of pressure but I will try my best of course."
Verstappen had consistently set the fastest laps in qualifying, but with the weather playing a part, he ultimately could not do enough to get the job done.
Nevertheless, he feels he is in a good position as he looks for a third consecutive win.
"It was quite a tricky qualifying with the rain, you have to be on the track at the right time, but overall the car was working really well. In Q3, it's a bit of a lottery sometimes when you have to put in the best lap," he said.
"To be on the front row, it's very good for us and we have a good race car I think both in the dry and in the wet."
Leclerc, on the back of some difficult race weekends, starts on the second row after spinning on his final flying lap – though he still believes he is in a position to mount a challenge.
"I spun on the last lap, I knew it was the lap where I had to put everything together, but I didn't as the driver, so I didn't deserve to be on pole," he said.
"It's a good position to start in for tomorrow's race and hopefully we can put everything together and come back.
"I think the pace is there, if we have a clean race and everything goes well, a good start and tyre management, the strategy will be a bit mixed between one or two stops so it will be interesting to see. Hopefully we make the right choice and come back to where we want to be."
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 1:40.983
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.072
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.315
4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) +0.633
5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +1.012
6. Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.101
7. Fernando Alonso (Alpine) +1.133
8. George Russell (Mercedes) +1.178
9. Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) +1.736
10. Nicholas Latifi (Williams) +22.112
McConnell confident heading into rounds three and four of Nitrocross Championship in Utah
Jamaican racing sensation Fraser McConnell is gearing up for an intense weekend of action as he heads into Rounds three and four of the Nitrocross championship on October 5 & 6 in Utah.
Following a stellar performance at the season’s opening rounds in Richmond, Virginia, McConnell holds second place in the overall standings, just 11 points behind leader Kevin Eriksson.
McConnell’s dominant showing at Richmond Raceway on September 7 & 8 saw him secure a third-place finish in Round 1, followed by a thrilling battle for first in Round 2.
After clinching the top qualifier spot and winning his semi-final, McConnell started the Round 2 final in pole position. Despite taking an early lead, a dramatic half-spin pushed him off his racing line, allowing Eriksson to take the win. McConnell finished second ahead of Viktor Vranckx.
Looking ahead to the Utah rounds, McConnell remains optimistic about his chances.
“I’m really looking forward to this weekend, going back to Utah, the birthplace of Nitrocross,” he shared.
“It all started there with the Nitro World Games in 2018 and 2019, so it's a very special place for everyone involved.”
McConnell also highlighted the challenge of the upcoming track. “Salt Lake is one of the craziest tracks on the calendar, with the biggest gap jump and a lot of demanding corners. It requires high speed from us drivers. I'll just go out there and hit my marks as usual, trying to extract as much as I can from the car while proudly repping Jamaica.”
With back-to-back podium finishes in Rounds 1 and 2, McConnell is confident about continuing his strong run.
“We’re second in the championship with 107 points, and I’m looking forward to continuing that streak this weekend,” he said.
McConnell currently leads defending champion Robin Larsson by four points and is poised to close the gap further in his pursuit of overtaking Eriksson.
McConnell's season is sponsored by JustBet, Proven, Tru Shake, Rainforest, and the Jamaica Tourist Board.
Reggae Racers Gore, Summerbell secure creditable finishes in race five of ADAC GT4 Germany series
Jamaica’s team of Tommi Gore and Senna Summerbell produced a creditable showing in the fifth race of the ADAC GT4 Germany series as they secured two top-15 finishes at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, at the weekend.
The Jamaican duo, dubbed the Reggae Racers, displayed their prowess as they drove their Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Club Sport to a 14th place finish after qualifying in ninth position in race one.
They were up with the pace from a strong start but later faded down the track in a fiercely competitive field.
However, the Avia W&S Motorsport representatives improved significantly in the second race, where they went nine places better to place fifth after placing fourth in qualifying.
The team of Jan Marschalkowski and Philipp Gogollok from Eastside Motorsport, finished tops to register their first win of the series. They won ahead of Finn Zulauf and Josef Knopp, also representing Avia W&S Motorsport.
With much positive to take from their performances, Gore and Summerbell will target even more improvements in the final race of the season scheduled for October 18-20 in Hockenheim, Germany.
“I am so happy to be a part of this team and ready to end the year strong. We had a big jump in results from the start of the season with this change, so we can only expect things to get better from here,” Gore said.
The Avia W&S Motorsports team, which currently occupies second position in the team ranking on 179 points, are the defending champions in the ADAC GT4 Series. They are 11 points behind leaders Hofor Racing.
A no-brainer: Bajan sensation Zane Maloney ditches Formula 2 ambitions to take up Formula E opportunity
With opportunities at certain levels of motorsport only coming far and few in between, Zane Maloney could not pass up the chance to participate in Formula E.
As such, the Barbados racing sensation made the decision to cut short his Formula 2 campaign after securing a seat to represent team Lola Yamaha ABT in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
The event, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars.
Though he currently occupies third position in the F2 drivers’ championship with two rounds remaining, Maloney, who recently inked a deal with Lola, is well aware of the significance of the Formula E opportunity presented to him and, as such, is eager to make the most of it at the expense of his F2 ambitions.
“In one way, I wanted to win Formula 2 this year. I wanted to give myself the best chance to do that, but I live my life by the day and I understand the opportunity that I have for next year, and when I think about that opportunity, everything in the present moment kind of gets forgotten about to some extent,” the 20-year-old said.
“So, of course, I know that coming to Formula E is a big opportunity for me and something amazing to show my skills in a world championship. I don’t really focus too much on the negative side of certain things. I try to focus on the positives, and I only see a positive thing coming into next year,” he added.
Maloney, who won the opening two races of the Formula 2 season, believes Formula E has gained traction as a top-notch championship, which made his decision a no-brainer.
“In F1, IndyCar, Formula E, and WEC as well, there’s not many seats that become available every year. There are a lot more drivers than there are seats, which makes it very difficult, and I think Formula E has always been a series that has amazing drivers, amazing manufacturers, and amazing teams. And of course, the media sees different motorsport genres a bit differently,” Maloney explained.
“But within the group of motorsports, Formula E is very well recognized, and every driver that goes into it knows how difficult it is to perform, so from that side of things, I don’t really focus too much on anything other than driving a race car as fast as I can with the opportunity that I’m given,” he noted.
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