Santiago Urrutia claimed pole position for the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour at Interlagos in a lengthy qualifying session, which was extended due to a red flag in Q1, taking almost two hours from start to finish. Urrutia deprived Esteban Guerrieri of his first World Tour pole with a final flying lap, outpacing him by two-tenths of a second.
Raphael Reis finished a brilliant seventh overall to emerge as the fastest of TCR South America and TCR Brasil competitors.
The first part of the session was red-flagged after ten minutes when the Squadra Martino Honda of Enrique Maglione and the PMO Racing Peugeot of Marcos Regadas locked wheels at Turn 1, with Maglione’s car spearing off and burying itself deep in the barriers. Maglione was able to get out of the car unaided, but the damage to the barrier was significant and it took over an hour before the session could resume.
It was the GOAT Racing Honda of Dušan Borković who ended up setting the fastest time in the frenetic final moments as drivers jostled for positions and progress into Q2.
Paladini Racing’s Juan Ángel Rosso broke into the top 12, which then knocked Mikel Azcona out of the top 12. Azcona was the last to take the chequered flag, but could only get up to 13th, missing the cut for Q2 as well as John Filippi, the only other TCR World Tour racer eliminated. Three of the TCR South America and TCR Brasil contenders made it to Q2: Reis (W2 Pro GP CUPRA), Rafael Suzuki (PMO Racing Peugeot) and Rosso (Paladini Racing Toyota).
In Q2, Urrutia set the first competitive benchmark of 1:42.180, but just after halfway, Guerrieri found another tenth of a second to go quickest and looked set to score his and GOAT Racing’s first pole in the World Tour. However, Urrutia, with the help of a tow from teammates Thed Björk and Yann Ehrlacher, managed to improve further, breaking with a time of 1:41.840 to take his first pole position since his home race last year. Guerrieri was demoted to second, while Ehrlacher made a late improvement to go third quickest.
Championship leader Norbert Michelisz, who had a lap deleted earlier in the session, managed to set the tenth fastest to secure the pole position on the reversed grid for Race 2, while Q1 pace-setter Borković had his two fastest laps deleted due to track limits infringements and qualified 11th.
Urrutia: “I’m happy for the team, they gave me a really good car. To put it on pole here at Interlagos on our first time here at this iconic racetrack I think is good. It’s just the beginning, it’s just the pole position, we have to finish the work tomorrow, but I’m very happy and hope to fight for the win tomorrow.”
Reis: “We know that this round is very important for us, as we’re fighting against the best cars and the best drivers in the world of TCR. We’re here at home, here in Brazil, and we try our best to be competitive. I think it’s a good place to start, so let’s go. It’s going to be a fun Sunday!”
Interlagos - Qualifying
1:41.840 – Santiago Urrutia (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03 FL)
1:42.040 – Esteban Guerrieri (GOAT Racing, Honda Civic Type R FL5)
1:42.208 – Yann Ehrlacher (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03 FL)
Championship points – TCR World Tour
- N. Michelisz, 150 pts; 2. Y. Ehrlacher, 136; 3. E. Guerrieri 131
Championship points – TCR South America
- J.Á. Rosso, 135 pts; 2. R. Reis, 131; 3. P. Cardoso 128
Championship points – TCR Brasil
- R. Reis, 192 pts; 2. P. Cardoso, 184; 3. G. Osman 179
Further information and images @ www.fiatcrworldtour.com
Schedule
Sunday – Race 1: 11:10 (17:10 CEST) live streaming
Sunday – Race 2: 14:40 (19:40 CEST) live streaming
Picture: TCR South America
