Néstor Girolami was the fastest of the three BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse drivers in a difficult day for the Italian team, which had been struggling for pace throughout Friday’s shakedown and Saturday’s two practice sessions, with the Argentine driver securing fifth on the grid for Race 1.
The Hyundai drivers lost four lap times between them in Q1, in which Mikel Azcona failed to progress to Q2, only able to set the 13th fastest time on his final run. Norbert Michelisz lost two laps in Q2, and the championship leader would wind up tenth, which at least secures him provisional pole position for Race 2, while Girolami was just over seven-tenths of a second away from pace-setter Santiago Urrutia’s pole time.
“To be honest, to finish P5 is like a miracle,” said Girolami. “From the shakedown we’ve been suffering a lot, especially in sectors one and three. In sector two we’re pretty competitive, and that’s the part where you have only corners. Sectors 1 and 3 are long straights, and on all three cars whether we’re carrying kilos or not, we have the same problem, so P5 today is the best I could hope for.
We weren’t even sure we’d be in the top ten to be honest. I pushed as hard as I can and got P5 and Norbi got P10, so for the team it’s a perfect scenario, it’s a shame for Mikel who didn’t get to Q2. I’m happy with the work we have done and the effort from the team as they’ve worked a lot this weekend on the set-up. Let’s see what happens tomorrow, in a race anything can happen, but it will be difficult to defend on the straights if we don’t have the speed.”
Picture: TCR South America
