A stop-start FIA FR World Cup Qualifying 1 session saw three drivers sneak in competitive times before conditions deteriorated
Oliver Goethe has set the pace on day one of the 2024 FIA FR World Cup, as he topped the first of two Qualifying sessions ahead of the 71st Macau Grand Prix this weekend. The MP Motorsport driver had also topped the opening session of the day, but it’s difficult to draw too many conclusions at this stage, as both sessions were affected by changing conditions.
As drivers ventured out at the start of Qualifying 1 conditions were damp, and with just one session already under their belts so far this weekend, all of them took a sensible approach to tyre choice and opted for the full-wet Pirelli rubber.
Before anyone had a chance to set a time, however, the red flags were brought out for the first of five session suspensions. The #27 PHM Racing car of Ruiqi Liu went off at Lisboa and collected the barriers, ending his session early and sending everyone back into the pits.
Following a short delay to clear the debris and check the barriers, the cars were soon back out on the circuit, and despite the conditions temporarily improving, all of them elected to remain on wet tyres.
This proved to be the most crucial moment of the day for the FIA FR World Cup cars. With conditions at their best, only three drivers were able to set a time before there was more drama, with R-ace Grand Prix’ Tuukka Taponen slotting into second between Goethe and his MP Motorsport team-mate Valerio Rinicella who was third.
Before anyone else could get a flying lap in, Jett Bowling crashed his Kiwi Motorsport car coming out of the second right-hander at Moorish Hill with an oversteer snap on exit – bringing the red flags back out with 29:51 left on the clock.
It was a lengthier stop to clear the stranded car this time as it was lodged in the guardrail, and during this period the rain intensified, effectively putting the top three out of reach of the rest and turning the session into a battle for fourth place. Indeed, the three drivers who had managed to get that lap in didn’t risk venturing out onto the circuit for the rest of the qualifying.
From here on out it was a case of when, not if, another car would find its way into the run-off at the infamous right-hander Lisboa, with first car #55 of Rintaro Sato and then soon after car #88 of Kai Daryanani taking to the escape road. While Sato was able to continue, Daryanani failed to get going again, blocking the escape road and forcing a third red flag to allow marshals to enter the track and push the car to safety.
This left 23 minutes on the clock, and yet more rain falling meant that the top ten positions were now set in stone. Behind the top three it was an impressive lap from Macau debutant Rashid Al Dhaheri to be best of the rest car for PHM Racing, followed by Freddie Slater (SJM Theodore Prema Racing), Matteo De Palo (PHM Racing), Alexander Dunne (SJM Theodore Prema Racing), Cooper Webster (Evans GP), Dino Beganovic (SJM Theodore Prema Racing), and Théophile Nael (Sainteloc Racing) rounding out the top ten.
With ten minutes to go, only those drivers in the bottom half of the table were setting lap times, and there were two further red flags brought out by Tiago Rodrigues and finally Rikuto Kobayashi, whose off again at Lisboa brought an end to the session with just a couple of minutes left on the clock.
All the teams and drivers will certainly be hoping for a less weather-affected Friday, but the unsettled conditions may well continue ahead of this all-important weekend.
