SIG STRIKES AGAIN
Manolis Sigoulakis scored his eighth pole position of the season with a commanding show at Monza. Going along for the ride, James McNamara ducked into the 1-22s as well, with Rautavaara being a distant 3 tenths behind the Australian.
But as ever, and definitely here, third is the effective pole, and for Rautavaara, it couldn't come at a better time. Needing a strong race to keep his championship hopes well and truly alive, the Finn is directly ahead of Nathan Cornes, starting 5th. Ben Utzer will keep his teammate company from 4th, while Stephan Bohner is alongside Cornes. Jamie Cocks went 7th as he needs a big race as well, Ishikawa is in 8th, with the Ravenwests of Diehl and Martins seeing out the top 10.
Harry Costello has it all to do, the final championship hopeful down in 21st, quite a bit behind the pace.
Commentators Comments: At Monza, speed matters. From third place, I'd fancy that Rautavaara is going to have buckets of speed, he's going to be hard to beat. Cornes has it all to do from fifth amazingly, especially as in recent weeks the upgrades of Razor have slowed down, while Apex have brought a big shiny upgrade for the race. But in all honesty, Yamaguchi surely has this from P15...
Podium Tips: T. Yamaguchi, J. Rautavaara, N. Cornes