Azcona and Vernay claim pole positions in PURE ETCR

The PURE ETCR Time Trial session at MotorLand Aragón saw Mikel Azcona and Jean-Karl Vernay claiming pole positions for tomorrow’s final races.
Azcona was the first Pool A driver out and clocked a lap of 1:58.514 that was fast enough for the pole position. After him Augusto Farfus was timed at 1:59.264, while all other drivers did not go under the two-minute mark, with Rodrigo Baptista (2:00.138) third ahead of Jordi Gené (2:00.850), Stefano Coletti (2:00.980) and Tom Chilton (2:01.928). 
A mistake in the last set of turns cost Mattias Ekström a few tenths and so Luca Filippi seemed jumped on top of the list. The Romeo Ferraris driver completed a nearly perfect lap in 1:59.250 beating the Swede’s 1:59.638. Oliver Webb was placed provisionally third (1:59.975), but Vernay had an ace up his sleeve and won pole position by 54 thousandths with a lap of 1:59.196. Dániel Nagy (2:00.343) and John Filippi (2:01.084) closed the list. 
Before the Time Trial, the Round 2 battles took place over 5 laps. In the Pool A, Azcona and Farfus claimed lights-to-flag wins over Baptista and Gené respectively, while Chilton beat Coletti, passing him at the beginning of the final lap.
The Pool B saw Ekström taking a comfortable victory ahead of John Filippi and Webb beating Nagy after a close fight that was decided by the Hungarian’s mistake at the last turn, while Battle 2 turned into a solo flight for Luca Filippi as Vernay couldn’t start due to a broken driveshaft.
At the end of the day, Azcona – who is still undefeated on the track from the beginning of the season – retained the lead in the standings, eight points clear of Ekström and 22 ahead of Vernay.
The two final races will take place at 09:45 and 16:00 local time (CEST) over the distance of 7 laps.

Championship points
1. M. Azcona 104 pts; 2. M. Ekstrõm 96; 3. JK. Vernay 82

Picture: PURE ETCR