Kinch and “Alex Fox” scrape pole

Christian Kinch (Formula Racing) and “Alex Fox” (SF Grand Est Mulhouse) took pole positions in their respective classes in an exciting thirty-minute Race-2 qualifying session at the 4226-metre Misano World Circuit.

Coppa Shell. The second set of time trials repeated the pattern seen in the first, with the series leader, Roger Grouwels (Race Art – Kroymans), among the first to go out on track. The Dutchman took advantage of the lack of traffic to clock a series of fast laps that put him in first position. However, in the second part, his opponents went all out. In particular, Christian Kinch (Formula Racing) set the best time, forcing Grouwels back on track to respond, but without success. He ran into traffic in the last sector while he was setting record partial times. A rampant Ernst Kirchmayr (Baron Motorsport), poleman in Race-1, recorded the best time but it didn’t count because he veered off track on turn 14. Kinch thus stayed in pole, sixty-one thousandths ahead of Grouwels and just over three tenths in front of Kirchmayr. An excellent Claudio Schiavoni (Scuderia Niki – Iron Lynx) finished fourth in class and sixth overall, a tenth of a second ahead of Fons Scheltema (Kessel Racing) who was fifth in class.

Coppa Shell Am. The gap between the two top two in the Am class was even tighter, with “Alex Fox” (SF Grand Est Mulhouse) putting in his best performance on his last assault. He finished just forty-two milliseconds ahead of an excellent Laurent De Meeus (HR Owen), poleman in Race-1. This final twist came after thirty minutes of continuous changes of leadership, which in addition to “Alex Fox” and De Meeus, starred Michael Simoncic (Baron Motorsport) and Willem Van Der Vorm (Scuderia Montecarlo). The series leader finished the session in first, with the fourth-fastest overall performance. Then came De Meeus, who was fifth overall, and Simoncic, third in class and eighth overall, just 48 thousandths ahead of Der Vorm. Coppa Shell Race-2 sets off this afternoon at 2pm. It will be live-streamed on races.ferrari.com