Joel overcame set-up troubles in second qualifying at Pau to bag a set of second-row grid slots for tomorrow’s two races.
After winning the first race of the weekend earlier in the day to celebrate his first street-event victory, Joel went into Qualifying 2 this evening hoping to feature in the scrap over pole for Sunday’s concluders.
However, set-up changes to his Team Motopark Dallara did not deliver the expected performance, as he struggled with oversteer between the barriers and had to make do with fourth on the grid for races two and three.
Joel left it until his final lap to go second quickest in group A, a tenth behind Maximilian Günther, while Lando Norris secured pole for Race 2 thanks to the fastest lap of the session as he headed group B. All the leading positions remained unchanged as far as second-fastest times – which determine the Race 3 grid – were concerned, leaving Norris on pole for both Sunday races ahead of Günther, Callum Ilott and Joel.
Next session: Race 2, 10.40 local time (GMT+02:00) tomorrow.
Comment, Joel:
“That was a difficult session. We made some changes to the car after the race this morning, basically the normal stuff to dial it into the changing conditions, but we went in the wrong direction. I had way too much oversteer, which is a lap time killer around here, and we need to learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“Considering how it felt out there, I’m actually surprised to be fourth and fourth. It’s a decent position to be in for the final two races, and I’ll be aiming for the podium in both.”
RESULTS – Qualifying 2
Outright times (grid for Race 2)
Group A
Group B
Second-fastest times (grid for Race 3)
Group A
Group B
