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Autopolis Super Formula: Alesi takes shock pole in wet

Giuliano Alesi sensationally scored his maiden pole in only his second weekend as a Super Formula driver during a wet, crash-strewn qualifying session for this weekend's Autopolis round.

Watch: Super Formula: Alesi takes shock pole in wet

In his second outing standing in for the absent Kazuki Nakajima, Alesi mastered the treacherous conditions to lead an all-TOM'S front row ahead of Ritomo Miyata in a session interrupted by no fewer than four red flags.

Persistent rain throughout the day at the Oita Prefecture track prompted organisers to abandon the knockout qualifying format and instead hold a single 40-minute session to determine the grid.

This was due to begin at 2.50pm local time, but the inclement weather forced a series of delays, with action getting underway 45 minutes behind schedule.

A crash for Rookie Racing driver Kazuya Oshima exiting the long Turn 8/9 left hander brought out the red flags after just five minutes of running, and there were further interruptions when Kondo Racing's Yuichi Nakayama spun and was unable to get going again, and then when Nirei Fukuzumi (Dandelion Racing) suffered a crash at Turn 17.

It was after that third red flag that Alesi set his best time of 1m38.252s to edge out teammate Miyata - who set his best time prior to Fukuzumi's crash - by just 0.085s.

Toshiki Oyu then brought proceedings to a halt for a fourth time with a crash at the same spot as Oshima, although the Nakajima Racing driver's collision was less severe and he was able to get back to the pits unaided with a heavily-damaged front-left wheel.

The session resumed with 15 minutes left on the clock, but the deteriorating weather in the interim meant there no improvements thereafter.

Behind the two TOM'S cars, Inging rookie Sena Sakaguchi was third-fastest, 0.259s off the pace, while 2019 Autopolis winner Yuhi Sekiguchi ended up fourth for Impul.

Completing an all-Toyota top six were those drivers' respective teammates, Sho Tsuboi and Ryo Hirakawa.

Points leader and defending Autopolis winner Tomoki Nojiri (Mugen) was the best of the Honda runners in seventh place, almost a second off the pace.

Tadasuke Makino (Dandelion) qualified eighth on his comeback from illness, ahead of Tatiana Calderon's stand-in at Drago Corse Koudai Tsukakoshi and Kenta Yamashita (Kondo).

Reigning champion Naoki Yamamoto had another qualifying session to forget for Nakajima Racing and will start Sunday's race down in 12th place, one place ahead of B-Max Racing's Nobuharu Matsushita.

The four drivers that caused red flags were all stripped of their times, and will fill out places 16 through 19 on the grid.

Motorsport.tv will continue to broadcast every race of the Super Formula season live in 2021 for free. Available worldwide except Japan. Click here for further information.

Qualifying results:

Cla # Driver Team Time Gap
1 36 France Giuliano Alesi Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S 1'38.252  
2 37 Japan Ritomo Miyata Kuo VANTELIN TEAM TOM’S 1'38.337 0.085
3 39 Japan Sena Sakaguchi P.MU/CERUMO・INGING 1'38.511 0.259
4 19 Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi Team Impul 1'38.651 0.399
5 38 Japan Sho Tsuboi P.MU/CERUMO・INGING 1'38.757 0.505
6 20 Japan Ryo Hirakawa Team Impul 1'38.910 0.658
7 16 Japan Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen 1'39.197 0.945
8 6 Japan Tadasuke Makino DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing 1'39.626 1.374
9 12 Japan Koudai Tsukakoshi ThreeBond Drago CORSE 1'39.721 1.469
10 3 Japan Kenta Yamashita Kondo Racing 1'40.145 1.893
11 15 Japan Hiroki Otsu Red Bull MUGEN Team Goh 1'40.585 2.333
12 1 Japan Naoki Yamamoto TCS Nakajima Racing 1'40.766 2.514
13 51 Japan Nobuharu Matsushita B-Max Racing Team 1'40.823 2.571
14 18 Japan Yuji Kunimoto KCMG 1'41.351 3.099
15 7 Japan Kazuto Kotaka KCMG 1'41.521 3.269
16 64 Japan Toshiki Oyu TCS Nakajima Racing    
17 5 Japan Nirei Fukuzumi DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing    
18 14 Japan Kazuya Oshima NTT Communications ROOKIE    
19 4 Japan Yuichi Nakayama Kondo Racing    

 

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