Pasma on pole in MRF Challenge final round

CHENNAI: Finnish teenager Patrick Pasma upstaged the MRF Challenge field with a blistering lap of one minute and 30.559 seconds at the Madras Motor Race Track on Friday to grab pole position for Saturday’s race.

Currently fifth in the Formula 2000 standings, the 18-year-old did well to shrug off two difficult practice sessions, including a puncture in the first, to take P1 in the 30-minute qualifying.

Pasma has so far won only one race in 10 outings — in the previous two rounds in Dubai (November) and Bahrain (December) — and will be looking to double the tally here in the third and final round of the championship.

The Finn also finished well ahead of championship frontrunners — Belgian Max Defourny (01:31.119) and British Jamie Chadwick (01:31.103).

Starting second will be Belgian Michaelangelo Amendola (01:30.682) followed by last year’s British Formula 3 champion Linus Lundquist from Sweden (01:30.810).