Formula Palmer Audi: Alonso Liste storms to double pole at Rockingham

By
Daisy Dukes
 – September 2, 2010Posted in: Formula Racing
Formel

Jose Alonso Liste will start from pole position for both of today’s races, after the Spaniard eventually triumphed in a session long battle with championship rival Nigel Moore. With cool conditions and fresh rubber lending themselves perfectly to the session, Moore and Alonso proved the class of the field and were the only drivers to dip into the 1m16s bracket – although several drivers were within one tenth of the benchmark.

Moore was the first to break the barrier, and his best effort of 1m16.878s looked set to earn him pole as Alonso Liste’s best effort was just 0.039s behind. The Spaniard was able to muster one last charge, however, and with five minutes remaining he snatched pole, moving just over one hundredths of a second clear of his British rival.

Championship leader Maxime Jousse meanwhile will start from sixth ©james bearne

With the grid for race two being decided by each driver’s second fastest lap, Alonso Liste will also start from pole for race two – his first and second poles of the season. He will again share the front row with Nigel Moore, setting up a fascinating battle between the pair as they are only separated by two points in second and fourth respectively in the championship. Behind the lead duo, France’s Vincent Beltoise eventually emerged triumphant in a frantic battle for third which saw three drivers finish within six hundredths of a second of each other. Debutant Thiemo Storz continued his highly impressive form at Rockingham to clinch fourth on the grid, with Kieran Vernon just 0.030s behind in fifth.

Championship leader Maxime Jousse meanwhile will start from sixth, the Frenchman finishing less than one tenth of a second behind Vernon in fifth – although he was not quite able to match the pace of title rivals Alonso Liste and Moore at the front. Fellow championship contender Melroy Heemskerk will share the fourth row with Britain’s Howard Fuller, while Tommaso Menchini demonstrated just how close the session was by sealing ninth, just over four tenths of a second off Alonso Liste’s benchmark.

Ramón Piñeiro suffered early problems which restricted his running slightly, but the Spaniard was able to bounce back to clinch tenth. He starts ahead of the British duo of James Thorp and Callum Holland, who share the sixth row despite both qualifying within one second of the overall best. Ash Davies finished just over six hundredths of a second down the road in 13th, with Giuseppe Cipriani, Victor Jimenez and Luca Orlandi completing the order.

Remarkably the grid for today’s second race is almost identical – the only change to the order coming on row six, where James Thorp drops from 11th to 13th for the second race – Callum Holland and Ash Davies being promoted as a consequence.

Formula Palmer Audi Championship – Rounds 11 & 12 – Rockingham – Qualifying Provisional Classification:
1. Jose Alonso Liste, 1:16.864s
2. Nigel Moore, +0.014s
3. Vincent Beltoise, +0.150s
4. Thiemo Storz, +0.173s
5. Kieran Vernon, +0.203s
6. Maxime Jousse, +0.285s
7. Melroy Heemskerk, +0.334s
8. Howard Fuller, +0.394s
9. Tommaso Menchini, +0.418s
10. Ramón Piñeiro, +0.746s

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