QUALIFYING: Weug masters Singapore streets to seal crucial back-to-back pole positions

Maya Weug sealed her second consecutive pole position with a rapid performance under the lights in Singapore, beating her title rival Doriane Pin to the top spot.

The Ferrari driver fended off the Standings leader and Red Bull Ford’s Chloe Chambers to go P1 in the final minutes on a 2:03.453. There was a nail-biting moment for Pin narrowly crossed the line before the chequered flag by a fraction of a second, giving her a chance to snatch a front row spot only 0.042s behind Weug.

It was down to Wild Card driver Lisa Billard to get the first time on the board in Qualifying with a 2:10.614. Block was next to set a flying lap, immediately bettering Billard’s effort on a 2:10.474. Meanwhile, disaster struck for Alisha Palmowski as the Red Bull Ford driver hit the wall out of Turn 5.

With the Yellow Flags being waved behind her in Sectors 1 and 2, Billard was able to move back on top, before Lloyd went quicker by nine tenths on her next attempt. The McLaren driver set the new benchmark to beat at a 2:04.958, as the Red Flags were flown to deal with the stranded #21 car.

Running resumed with 22 minutes remaining and Billard picked up where she left off, posting a 2:04.677. Pin then continued her form from Free Practice to go top on a 2:03.885, as Chambers slipped into second, over five tenths adrift.

Undeterred, the Red Bull Ford driver then eclipsed the Mercedes driver’s time by 0.124s, whilst Billard moved into third ahead of Ella Lloyd and Weug, who found herself stuck in traffic.

After putting for fresh tyres and benefitting from clean air, Weug clawed to within 0.014s of Chambers. Her next attempt of a 2:03.453 was good enough for P1, moving her almost two tenths clear of the American.

Looking to be on her final attempt, Pin was caught up in traffic. In a race to get to the line before the chequered flag fell, the French racer narrowly scraped through and squeezed her way into P2 ahead of Chambers in third, giving Weug back-to-back pole positions.

Despite a near-miss brush with the wall on her final lap, Lloyd secured fourth. A stellar debut from Billard saw her deliver the best Qualifying result for a Wild Card this season in fifth ahead of Emma Felbermayr.

Aurelia Nobels followed in seventh ahead of Block, Alba Larsen, and Chloe Chong, who rounded out the top 10 in the #27 Charlotte Tilbury car.

This means Block lines up on reverse grid pole for Race 1, with the lights going out at 15:00 local time (UTC+8) on Saturday.