Form book just went out the window...

For 17 of the 18 laps the World Cup final progressed more or less as expected, with several place changes for the lead taking place between Matteo Vigano, a tardy starting Brandon Maisano, and Felice Tiene, with no one showing an advantage over their opponents. Smarrazzo though was struggling in the early laps and had dropped to 9th place.

Holding station in 4th place was David Da Luz (Zanardi-Parilla), but he later admitted he did not have the pace to pass the three ahead of him. The final lap changed all that when Vigano pulled into the pits to retire, leaving Maisano and Tiene to make contact at turn 4 in a move that gave Tiene a 3s penalty. From the dust and confusion emerged a 'shocked' Da Luz, leaving the Portuguese driver to take the World Cup victory. A recovering Tiene was behind him, but with the penalty, Vandoorne from grid 15, and who had been 9th two laps from the finish, was promoted to 2nd place, with the Italian resident Australian youngster, Mitchell Gilbert (Kosmic-Vortex), an equally shocked 3rd overall.

Incredible..!

Finals now pending...

Only the two finals now stand between the 34 qualifiers and the Formula KF2 World Cup, where Matteo Vigano has taken pole position for the pre-final, ahead of Felice Tiene and Aniello Smarrazzo. The other hot-shot, Brandon Maisano, had a bad result in heat 3, so he is back on grid 12 with a lot to do to beat his three main rivals.

Over in 'Brit-land' European Champion Jordan Chamberlain is on grid 10, which is a respectable place for Jordan to be and allows he the chance to move towards the top six for a good final grid position. Chris Lock has also done well and has qualified on grid 18, although rather him than me in this mid-pack!

As the on-track temperature started to rise, British driver Josh Fielding was heading towards qualification until a shunt took him out of the final heat, although seeing his aggressor on the other side of the track proved a little too much for Josh. Fortunately an alert Spanish marshall came to a quick decision, proved equal to the task, and brought a charging Josh crashing to the ground, before he did something to his opponent that would have earned the wrath, and potential ban, from the officials.

Sunday morning...

First blood to Matteo Vigano in the opening qualifying heat this morning, with Felice Tiene (above) taking honours in the second of today's final three heats, with the third and last race due out at 11.30am (local time).

British pride has so far been carried by Ben Cooper and Jordan Chamberlain, who both looked quick in the last heat, although Lock, Fielding, Carter, and Blundell have a lot to do to recover from any trials and tribulations experienced yesterday.

The driver parade is scheduled for 13.00 this afternoon, with the pre-final due out at 15.15, and then the main final at 16.50.