Delighted Duran determined to win

Duran has prior knowledge of the Californian track from his time racing in Barber Dodge, and he put his experience to good use to take Team Mexico's best ever qualifying performance.

With Team France needing only to score more points than Switzerland to clinch the title, he knows he has an excellent chance of winning.

"Overtaking is not easy here and I have the inside line for the first corner," he said. "I know [Team France's] Nicolas [Lapierre] and he is a very experienced driver, so it will be a good fight with him.

"I know he needs the points for the championship, but he's a racer and for sure he wants to win. But we have the car and the pace here, I think."

Lapierre himself said he could adopt a safety-first approach to the sprint race in a bid to wrap up the title.

"We came here to win the championship, and that will be the aim in the first race. In the second, I will be able to push much harder, so we can go for it then!"

Team France's chances of winning the title this weekend have been massively increased by Team Switzerland qualifying back in 16th.

France need to leave the US with a 32-point advantage over the Swiss. They currently hold a 32-point lead.