Gianni Morbidelli congratulates team-mate Kevin Gleason on stellar lap

Championship leader Gianni Morbidellli congratulated team-mate Kevin Gleason after qualifying at the Salzburgring, when the American driver took his second pole of the season for WestCoast Racing.

Gleason’s lap was set without the aid of a tow in his Honda Civic, while the SEAT teams all focussed on trying to provide each other with at least a two-car slipstream at the fast Austrian circuit.

The two Hondas will start first and second for tomorrow’s first race, while the team’s third car of Ukrainian Igor Skuz, celebrating his 39th birthday today, qualified in tenth position and therefore will start on pole position for race two.

“Kevin did a very good lap,” said Morbidelli after qualifying. “He was alone and I had the advantage as I had the slipstream from him, so I must congratulate him for the great performance that he did today.”

Gleason was surprised with the result following a mistake on his first run, which even then was still good enough for second. The 28-year-old then went out and set a time of 1:26.915, the only driver under 1:27 all weekend, to claim his second pole in the series.

“I made a mistake on my first run in the second part of qualifying, and cooled the car down for a lap and gave it everything on the last lap,” said Gleason.

Although the Hondas weren’t at the top of the time sheets during yesterday’s test or this morning’s practice sessions, the results come qualifying weren’t a surprise.

“After I felt the balance of the car on the new tyres everything felt really good, the track conditions were good and the car was set-up really well so I knew we had the chance to fight for the top three,”
he added.

Following on from a third place finish in Shanghai, and a second place earlier this month at Portimao, the American driver has one target left come race day.

“There’s only one thing left to do, so I’m going to give it everything I can tomorrow and hopefully come home with my first victory.”