Fittipaldi leads Lotus 1-2 in qualifying for second race at Aragon
Pietro Fittipaldi took his eighth pole position of the season, leading team-mate Rene Binder in a Lotus one-two for the second Formula V8 3.5 race at Aragon.
Fittipaldi set the early benchmark of 1m41.695s and stayed ahead of the time-swapping battles between RP Motorsport's Roy Nissany and Binder, with the top three covered by just 0.246 seconds.
Only Teo Martin's Nelson Mason was out on track during the mid-session break, to make up for lost ground for missing Saturday's running.
In the final frantic four minutes remaining of qualifying, just 0.383s separated a close battle for third to ninth position on the grid.
Binder briefly set the pole position of 1m41.678s, but Fittipaldi swiftly demoted his title rival with an unbeatable 1m40.765s.
Yu Kanamaru in the other RP car went third, before Force India Formula 1 reserve driver Alfonso Celis Jr took over the position only to lose it to Konstantin Tereschenko in the Teo Martin machine - who went just 0.026s faster on his final lap.
Behind that trio was Saturday's race winner Egor Orudzhev less than a tenth behind fifth place Fortec driver, Diego Menchaca, Orudzhev's SMP Racing/AVF team-mate Matevos Isaakyan slotted into eighth position.
The top 10 was rounded out by title challenger Nissany, who had his fastest lap time removed for exceeding track limits at Turn 9.
QUALIFYING TWO RESULT:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Lotus | 1m40.765s | - |
| 2 | Rene Binder | Lotus | 1m40.914s | 0.149s |
| 3 | Konstantin Tereschenko | Teo Martin Motorsport | 1m41.275s | 0.510s |
| 4 | Alfonso Celis | Fortec Motorsports | 1m41.301s | 0.536s |
| 5 | Yu Kanamaru | RP Motorsport | 1m41.362s | 0.597s |
| 6 | Egor Orudzhev | SMP Racing by AVF | 1m41.438s | 0.673s |
| 7 | Diego Menchaca | Fortec Motorsports | 1m41.538s | 0.773s |
| 8 | Matevos Isaakyan | SMP Racing by AVF | 1m41.569s | 0.804s |
| 9 | Nelson Mason | Teo Martin Motorsport | 1m41.658s | 0.893s |
| 10 | Roy Nissany | RP Motorsport | 1m42.009s | 1.244s |
| 11 | Damiano Fioravanti | RP Motorsport | 1m42.242s | 1.477s |
| 12 | Giuseppe Cipriani | Il Barone Rampante | 1m43.267s | 2.502s |
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