Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al Qemzi was said to be ‘supremely confident’ going into the first round of the 2021 UIM F2 World Championship – After the first free practice in Kupiskis this morning, it was easy to see why.

The driver from the UAE who won the world championship in 2017 and 2019 posted an early lap time of 40.464 seconds and it was unbeatable.

The current world champion, Duarte Benavente, posted a 41.359 at the beginning of the 90 minute session which left him .895 slower than Al Qemzi.

Returning to international competition after a season’s break, Tobias Munthe-Kaas, then set the third fastest time with a 41.505.

Late in the session Britain’s Robin Stoddard rolled out of the running which puts him out of qualifying but he hopes to race tomorrow.

After a delay in recovering his stricken Moore hull a further 13 minutes was allowed.

Sweden’s Daniel Segenmark got the nearest to Al Qemzi’s time with a 40.880 while Munthe-Kaas improved his 41.505 with a 40.896.