Invicta Racing secured a double top-10 Qualifying performance at the Albert Park Circuit in Australia and is set to start Saturday’s Sprint Race from the front row of the grid.
The day of running down under began with Free Practice. The Invicta Racing pair of Gabriel Bortoleto and Kush Maini started the weekend well, running towards the top of the times throughout the session. A red flag interrupted any final efforts, but practice concluded with both drivers in the mix with Kush sixth and Gabriel eighth.
Qualifying was eventful and affected by incidents. Teams ran two sets of Super Soft tyres and had the opportunity to run two fast laps on each set. On the first set, both drivers performed well and were towards the top of the times with Gabriel in fourth and Kush in sixth.
The drivers had new tyres for the run to the flag. Both Gabriel and Kush had their first lap influenced by a yellow flag, notably with Kush having set the fastest first sector to that point. After another red flag, that left the drivers with one final push in the session.
Gabriel was on a decent lap but had a moment at Turn 12 which limited him to ninth in the session. Kush was able to improve, to a 1m29.313s, which was good enough for fourth.
This gives the team a front row start for Saturday’s Sprint Race, scheduled for 14:15 AEDT (UTC +11), with Gabriel set to line up second, while Kush is to start seventh.
FREE PRACTICE:
- Kush Maini: P06, 1:30.342
- Gabriel Bortoleto: P08, 1:30.373
QUALIFYING:
- Kush Maini: P04, 1:29.313
- Gabriel Bortoleto: P09, 1:29.502
KUSH MAINI:
The car was amazing today, so thank you to the team for providing me with it. We were a little unlucky today, and we felt that the front row was on the cards, but it was a positive start to the weekend and we will push together to get some good points in the two races here.
GABRIEL BORTOLETO:
It was not the best Qualifying, but we need to look at the positives. We are still in the top 10 and with a good position with the reverse grid for tomorrow and we can do something from there. I was not happy with my lap on the second set of tyres, I completely messed it up but my run on the first set was able to salvage this position. I need to gain a better understanding of the tyres during red flag periods but we will keep working on that and keep pushing.
