Team Abu Dhabi's Mansoor Al Mansoori outshone his teammate and top contender Rashed Al Qemzi to clinch the pole position for Sunday's Grand Prix of Portugal, the penultimate round of the UIM F2 World Championship.
After four-time champion Al Qemzi unexpectedly failed to secure a spot in the six-boat qualifying shootout, Al Mansoori demonstrated his increasing championship potential with an outstanding performance to claim the top spot in Peso Da Régua.
The qualifying session saw late drama when Sweden's Mathilda Wiberg, trailing Al Qemzi by eight points in the F2 title race, crashed dramatically, leaving her mechanics with a significant repair job ahead of her fifth-place start on Sunday.
Lithuania's Edgaras Riabko, who qualified in third position, is just one point behind, setting up what promises to be an exhilarating finale to the season in Portugal over the next eight days.
This season has been one of the most fiercely contested in the championship's 30-year history, with the intensity evident even in Saturday's official practice session for the 16 participants. Wiberg narrowly edged out Al Qemzi by five thousandths of a second, with Al Mansoori a fraction behind in third, and less than a second separating the top seven.
This set the stage for an intriguing qualifying session, combining Q1 and Q2 into a single 40-minute battle to secure a spot in the six-boat Q3 shootout. Al Mansoori was quickest just past the halfway mark, while Al Qemzi languished in eighth place and headed to the pits for a new propeller. Almost immediately, Riabko surged to the top, only for Palfreyman to briefly take the lead before Al Mansoori set another fastest time, keeping the drama alive.
Unfortunately for Al Qemzi, he was unable to improve his position and will start in eighth place, with the world championship now hanging in the balance. The leading championship standings are as follows:
