Interview
‘I found a good flow’ – Larsen celebrates return to the top three in Las Vegas Qualifying as she sets sights on first podium
Alba Larsen has come full circle to claim third place in Qualifying for the first time since the season opener in Shanghai, giving her the strongest opportunity to chase down a maiden podium finish in Las Vegas.
The Tommy Hilfiger driver broke into the top three behind polesitter Chloe Chambers and Red Bull Racing’s Alisha Palmowski, with a slim margin of 0.017s denying Larsen a career-best P2.
Having previously stated at in-season testing that she wanted to improve her adaptability in Qualifying, especially with the sole Practice session giving drivers limited time to find the pace, the 16-year-old put on a show to beat both title contenders to P3.
She hit the ground running in Practice as she was quick enough for fourth, albeit seven tenths adrift of Doriane Pin’s benchmark, proving that she could take on the challenging temperatures and unfamiliar circuit head-on.
Asked whether she had anticipated being so competitive this weekend, Larsen responded: “I don’t know. I finished P4 in Practice as well, so I was up there and I knew I’d done a lot of prep and I felt ready.
“I felt good, but obviously you can’t really expect anything until you’re on track. It was a bit tricky in the beginning but I found my space and found a good flow, so I ended up doing some really good laps in the end – that helped me get to P3 which I’m really happy about. It’s hard to say that I expected it, but I’m really happy to be here.”
A key element of Qualifying was the slipstream, which many teammates gave to each other in order to improve their lap times towards the end of the 30-minute session. It was crucial for drivers to time it perfectly to make the most of the higher speed a tow can offer – something that took Larsen and her MP Motorsport counterpart and title contender Maya Weug a while to master.
The rookie’s initial attempt to give Weug a tow wasn’t the most successful, and the two returned to the garage briefly to reset. When they headed back out on track, the tactic worked and enabled them both to drastically cut down their times.
“I think it’s quite hard when you’re on track to do that stuff without talking about it before,” Larsen reflected. “Obviously we’re a team and we want to help each other, especially with Maya as a title contender.
“We talked about it before because we knew it was going to be a massive thing here with such a long straight. I ended up giving Maya a really good tow and she gave me one back so it was good.”
She has crossed the line in the top five on an impressive six occasions this season, but a podium has eluded her so far. The speed with which she has adapted to the new circuit and planted herself in the top three could represent her greatest chance yet to finish the year on a high.
The next challenge of Race 1 will see Larsen start from P6, which she anticipates will be “a very eventful reverse grid race”.
“I think there will be a lot of fighting, and hopefully I’ll be able to do some overtakes and fight my way through the grid,” she explained. “Race 1 is going to be a way to measure stuff so that we’re ready for Race 2 on Saturday.
“It’s going to be the main race and there are lots of points to play for. Starting up here, it’s going to be really important so that I’ll hopefully be able to finish where I’m starting.”