Esteban Guerreri missed out by just two-tenths of a second on scoring GOAT Racing’s first pole position in the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour at Interlagos, with a last-minute improvement from Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia demoting him to second place on the grid.
It was a strong qualifying overall for the Spanish team, with Guerrieri’s team-mate Marco Butti qualifying in fourth position, with the 19-year-old Italian similarly dislodged at the end of the session by a late improvement from Urrutia’s Lynk & Co team-mate Yann Ehrlacher. Dušan Borković, who had topped Q1, ended the session 11th, after losing three of his lap times for track limit infringements at Turn 3.
“It was close, but no cigar,” said Guerrieri. “We cannot extract the best from the tyre on the first push lap, so I was taking care on the first push and going for it on the second lap, but that meant we didn’t have time to come into the pits and put another set on and go again since Q2 is only ten minutes.
So, after one set, we were P1, but the Cyan Racing cars were able to come in, put on another set, and go again. Santi also got a tow from his team-mates and he beat me, so fair play to them they played a good team game, but we’re there in the fight, so tomorrow will be interesting. I’m hoping for good fights on the track tomorrow, and I’m happy for Marco who put it there in P4, he worked well this weekend and has ended up quite close to me, and also for Dušan, who set a good time, but he lost one for track limits.”
Picture: TCR South America
