Auer claims double pole in Timaru qualifying

Lucas Auer has continued his strong start to the 2013 Toyota Racing Series campaign by claiming a double pole position in qualifying for round two at Timaru.

The Austrian – who will race for Prema in the FIA F3 European Championship later this year – moved to the head of the timesheets with around five minutes remaining in the opening Q1 session. He finished up 0.255 seconds clear of defending champion Nick Cassidy, who will join him on the front row for the first race later on Saturday.

Cassidy edged out Bruno Bonifacio by a mere one thousandth of a second to secure that front row spot, with Damon Leitch making it two Kiwis in the top four. Steijn Schothorst was close behind in fifth ahead of Felix Serralles, who leads the standings coming into the weekend, five points ahead of Auer. Alex Lynn was seventh with Pipo Derani rounding out a competitive top eight covered by less than half a second. Nicholas Latifi and Jann Mardenborough will share the fifth row.

Auer was on top again in Q2, which ended with two late red flags after offs from Derani and Mardenborough. He will therefore start Sunday’s race three from pole, with future F3 teammate Lynn the man alongside him on this occasion as he looks to make up for points lost in his dramatic crash at Teretonga last weekend.

Bonifacio was again third with Serralles making it three Giles Motorsport cars on the front two rows in fourth place. Leitch and Schothorst were fifth and sixth with Mardenborough and Derani claiming spots on the four row despite their dramas. Caught out by the interrupted running, Cassidy was a lowly ninth with Latifi tenth.

Saturday’s race takes place at 15:00 local time, or 02:00 GMT.

Qualifying 1 results

Qualifying 2 results