As the last free practice sessions were wrapped up on Thursday morning at Lonato, the 2019 ROK Cup Superfinal put on a more serious mode with the qualifying practices and the opening heats taking place in the afternoon for the 418 drivers entered.

Already feeling comfortable with both his material and the track in Wednesday’s free practices, Jace Denmark-Gessel showed again a full level of confidence translated into strong pace in the last training session of his class where he took the second-fastest lap time.

The young driver from Arizona carried out his momentum in qualifying where he positioned himself within the Top Four of the 28-driver field, taking an ideal starting position for his opening qualifying heat.

“From free practice to heat race, P1 was always the target for us. The pace that we have since the beginning of the weekend is really strong and will get us far. My qualifying was a little bit disrupted and I finished a tenth of a second off but still right there in the front mix,” he explained before heading for his first qualifying race.

“My first heat had a very unfortunate start when a major incident put the whole race into full caution mode until Lap 7. After that, I managed to come home in seventh place. It was exciting out there and we learned lots of things that boost our confidence. Today will be much better!”

Click here for the official live timing of the ROK Cup Superfinal powered by Vortex Engines. Jace’s second and third qualifying heats will take place at 13:05 and 16:50 respectively (Central European Time).

Don’t forget to follow Jace Denmark-Gessel on Facebook and Instagram!

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  • Text: Guillaume Alvarez
  • Photos: Cody Schindel / CKN