Pascal Wehrlein made the best of the appalling weather conditions to put in a great qualifying run and secure a row 2 starting position in P3 for today’s Shanghai Grand Prix round 11.

Unlike yesterday’s action, which took place in scorching hot weather, today’s schedule had to be heavily revised due to the heavy rain forecast for the area. Free practice and qualifying were first brought forward to guarantee the programme, with the race scheduled to be held two hours earlier. But just seven minutes of track running in Free Practice 3 proved to be decisive for the rest of the morning, as the Duels were cancelled, leaving the grid positions to be decided by the results of the two qualifying Groups.

In Group A, it was Wehrlein and Nick Cassidy (Jaguar) who set the pace on the soaking wet track, and the British driver finished ahead of the German at the end of the session. Conditions worsened for Group B, and it was Pascal’s TAG Heuer Porsche teammate Antonio Felix da Costa who ended up quickest before the red flags came out, followed by Lucas di Grassi (Lola Yamaha). These four drivers will make up the front two rows of the grid for the 29-lap race.

“I’m pleased with the session, it’s the third time in a row that I’m actually in P3 and starting the race in P3 so I think we can be happy with that,” said Pascal. “Cassidy was already super fast this morning in practice, but we also had a good session. In the beginning, the conditions were a little bit better and towards the end it started to rain heavily again, and aquaplaning was a topic. You definitely want to be at the front of the grid because if it’s wet like that, visibility is an issue so starting from P3 is good. The race will be a lot more decided by pure pace than on efficiency or anything else. And the key will be to have a good pace and a good strategy with the attack modes. Let’s see if the race starts at all and how the weather develops.”

Photos: Courtesy of Porsche