Petr Fulín says there’s much potential in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta

ETCC Super 2000 Cup points leader Petr Fulín gave the Mulsanne Racing Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR its best qualifying result today at the Salzburgring, with the Czech driver qualifying in eighth position in a rain-hit qualifying session, and says there’s more pace to be found in the revamped car.

The Giulietta has skipped the last two race meetings at Spa-Francorchamps and Imola as builders Romeo Ferraris work to develop the 1.75-litre turbocharged car in order to bring it to the same level as the SEATs, Hondas and Volkswagens already competing in the series.

Fulín put the car in the top ten in the first practice session, before he damaged the car in FP2 and failed to set a competitive time, but shone in the wet qualifying session, putting the Alfa Romeo eighth on the grid for Race 1 and third on the provisional grid for Race 2.

“Honestly, it’s a better result than I expected before qualifying,” said Fulín to TouringCarTimes. “Before qualifying, I said I’d like to do a 1:27.5, that was my target, and I pushed really hard. Some guys made some mistakes and we moved to the second part of qualifying, and of course the weather was the reason,” he said.

As the rain fell even harder in Q2, the Czech driver said conditions were almost unmanageable.

“It was absolutely crazy, this car has no ventilation,” he explained. “There was a big fog inside the car, but I do feel the potential of this car. We have to work hard and I’m absolutely confident this car will be faster race by race.”

While Hondas drivers are hoping for dry conditions tomorrow, with the Alfa not quite on the pace yet, the 2013-2014 ETCC TC2 champion is hoping for precipitation on Sunday.

“If we have dry conditions, it’ll be negative for me,” he said. “I’m realistic and I think that in the dry, here right now we haven’t the chance to be in the top five, but in the wet, everything is possible.”