Gianni Morbidelli: “The start will be the key”

Gianni Morbidelli scored his third pole position of the season at the Red Bull Ring, in Austria. The WestCoast Racing driver did not expect to be on pole position.

“It [the pole position] is unexpected but it’s wonderful to pull out such a result, especially at such a wonderful venue as Spielberg and on this track, which I really enjoy,” admitted the Honda driver. “I had a very good performance today, but I’m a bit surprised because I managed to clock three good lap times.”

A change in setup after the first segment of qualifying was important to allow the driver to break the 1:40′ barrier: “After Q1 I felt a small problem, but we changed something on the car and it worked perfectly. It is an important pole position, as I score 5 points in the championship as well. I improved a lot in Q2, and I had four new tyres for the first time, which improved the performances of corse.”

Morbidelli explained why he feels he made such big progress from being 1.4s shy of the lead in Free Practice 1 to a dominant pole position, saying that getting the setup right is crucial: “The track changes quite quickly, we had Free Practice 1 early this morning and the track was slippery. With the different compounds of tyres from the European Le Mans Series and the World Series by Renault 3.5 cars, we are honestly gambling. We need to guess how the track will be and react accordingly. However it is the same for everyone, we need to be a little lucky and use the right setup at the right moment.”

When asked by TouringCarTimes if he was concerned over the starts, having lost places several times this season, the Italian admitted that the moment when the lights go off will be the most important moment in his race: “In the last few races we have had a few issues with the start, we are not as quick as SEAT and need to be very careful at the start. It will be a key moment, it is very important to start first, but it’s even more important to be in the same position at the end of the race! If I can I will try to win, but I also have to think about the championship, because I lost a lot of points in Russia and I would like to go back home leading again, that’s my goal.”

The five points scored by Morbidelli with pole position mean the gap to championship leader Stefano Comini is down to 13 points.