Quinn was quickest by 0.109s in the morning. One of only two drivers to lap in the 1m 23s bracket. Times tumbled in the afternoon ession however, with eight drivers breaking the 1m 24s barrier and Quinn facing stern competition to remain the day’s pacesetter. Team-mate Oscar Piastri proved to be the main threat.
Quinn saved his best until late on. With just minutes of the session remaining he posted a time of 1m 23.332s and then immediately bettered it with a 1m 23.068s lap around the 2.2-mile Cheshire track to put him clear.
Piastri made it a TRS Arden one-two, recording the quickest second sector time of anybody on his final lap which was just 0.134s slower than Quinn.
Ayrton Simmons was unable to find an ideal balance from his car. A mistake on his best lap late in the afternoon hindering his progress up the timesheets, as he climbed from ninth fastest in the morning session to seventh by the time the chequered flag fell on the day’s running.
TRS Arden’s trio of talented teenagers have a busy schedule ahead of them on Saturday with qualifying at 0905 and two races, rounds 10 and 11 of the championship, at 1415 and 1745 respectively. The final race of the Oulton weekend follows on Sunday afternoon at 1405 and will be broadcast live on ITV4.
Alex Quinn: “It’s been a very good day for TRS Arden. Both Oscar and I were really quick. We need to do the same on Saturday and that’s the key. I enjoyed driving around this track last year and I’m enjoying it this year. There are a variety of corners, slow and fast, which makes it a fun challenge. Our car is so good through the corners and as drivers we’re performing well to extract the performance from the car. Oscar gave me some tips after FP1 and we’ve been working really well together, as we have done all season. The team has done an amazing job with the setup and I have felt comfortable from the start.”
Oscar Piastri: “After the first session I felt there was a lot more to come from me and in the second session we underlined the pace we have. When we tested here back in February we found a nice setup and we’ve just been fine-tuning that. It’s nice to be one-two at the top before qualifying. Sector two is the most technical so it’s no surprise to see us quickest there given how well the car is handling, but there are another two sectors in a lap and it’s about being quickest in all three of them.”
Ayrton Simmons: “It’s been a pretty frustrating day for me. Being one second off in the morning session is certainly not how I wanted to start the weekend. I struggled with the balance in the first session. We made a few changes ahead of FP2 and the
car felt much better, but there is still room for improvement. I made a mistake on my quickest lap and that cost me about two to three tenths of a second which didn’t help either. I’ll keep my head up though. We’re constantly improving and I think a top five grid slot in qualifying is a realistic target.”