José María López back in the points lead after record breaking pole position

José María López secured his 16th pole position of his World Touring Car Championship career at the Hungaroring, his first at this circuit, breaking the lap record by 2.6 seconds on the newly resurfaced and re-profiled track.

The Argentinian will line-up his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC ahead of the ROAL Chevrolet Cruze of Tom Coronel and the Honda Civic of Rob Huff for the main race of day at 17:15 CET.

“The 16th pole position is also because I have the best car on the grid,” said López. “Again (Citroën) have done a fantastic job. As a driver we never know how it’s going to be in Q3. Especially as, and I think the other drivers will agree with me, the track conditions were much more different from last year and it was difficult to understand exactly the car.

“Q3 is about confidence and no mistakes. I made a mistake but I managed to do a good lap, my best one from qualifying and again, thanks to the team and everybody who was involved. It’s still a long way tomorrow but it’s always good to do pole position in Hungary.”

Although the two-time champion has pole position for the main race, that means he’ll start from tenth for the opening race of the day at the circuit where it’s notoriously difficult to overtake.

“We know here that it’s very difficult to overtake, and I believe with the new tarmac that it’s even worse because out of the line there is no grip at all,” said López. “I know my best position is in the main race. (In the opening race) I will try to move forward, try to bring back the car and see what happens.”