Alex Palou surprised the establishment by taking pole position in his very first World Series Formula V8 3.5 qualifying session at a damp Nurburgring on Friday.
The Spaniard, who only got the call to race for Teo Martin Motorsport the day before running at the German circuit was due to get underway as regular racer Nelson Mason was unavailable, made the most of the conditions, setting a best time of 1:42.174s to grab the pole position.
Virtually all drivers set their best times early in the session due to the weather, traditionally unsettled at the Nurburgring, played havoc once again, with only Egor Orudzhev able to better his time late in the session, although that was only to claim fifth.
Joining Palou on the front row will be current championship leader Pietro Fittipaldi, with the Lotus driver ending up 0.667 seconds back, while Matevos Isaakyan of SMP Racing by AVF and Alfonso Celis Jr of Fortec Motorsports will share row two.
SMP Racing by AVF’s Orudzhev jumped ahead of RP Motorsport’s Roy Nissany with his late flying lap, while Konstantin Tereschenko, team-mate to Palou, will start seventh ahead of Diego Menchaca, Damiano Fioravanti and Rene Binder.
A second qualifying session will take place on Saturday afternoon, with the opening race beginning at 4:10pm local time, with Palou set to lead the field away.
Nurburgring Race 1 Qualifying Result
[table id=2233 /]
