WTCR Vila Real: Urrutia beats Ehrlacher to pole in Cyan Lynk & Co 1-2

The Uruguayan was the penultimate driver to run in the Q3 shootout, hitting the top with a time of 1m59.626s. Reigning double champion Ehrlacher ran last and was fastest of all in the first sector, only to drop time in the final two to miss out to his team-mate and title rival.

“I’m super-happy, it’s always good to be on pole position,” said Urrutia. “Thank you to Cyan Performance, they gave me a really good car. It was a tough day learning the track, but the guys delivered the best for me.

“The last time I was on pole was a long time ago in Aragon, so I’m happy. Now we need to look to the strategy for tomorrow.”

Ehrlacher was disappointed to miss out on pole, especially by such a small margin: “It’s good for the team. We’ve got 10 points today [for setting the fastest time overall in qualifying], so it’s quite a good achievement. It’s the way it is. My performance was really good.”

Munnich Motorsport’s Nestor Girolami, in a Honda still carrying the maximum success ballast of 40kg, pulled out two big laps to progress beyond Q1 and make it into Q3, then banked third on the grid for race one.

Nestor Girolami, ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R TCR

Photo by: WTCR

Girolami also addressed concerns over sandbagging from rival teams in qualifying, in order to maintain a competitive Balance of Performance for future rounds. Although BRC Squadra Corse’s Norbert Michelisz made it into Q3 and qualified fifth, team-mate Mikel Azcona – who holds a 34-point lead at the top of the WTCR standings – was only eighth fastest. The pair also chose to qualify tactically in the previous round last weekend at Aragon.

Gallery: W Series 2022: your complete guide to the cars, drivers and race calendar (Motoring Research)

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