José María López not surprised with Esteban Guerrieri’s pace

José María López put his Citroën C-Elysée on pole position at his home race at Termas de Río Hondo, Argentina. The driver says he took it easy once he knew Esteban Guerrieri’s lap had been disallowed.

“I didn’t have to go with the knife in my mouth, I didn’t want to make any mistakes like I did the last two times,” said the double champion. “I knew he (Guerrieri) had been penalised so I just took it a bit easier in Sector 1, and I’m very happy with my pole position.”

With Honda’s Norbert Michelisz next to him, the championship leader is aware of the pressure, but he will try to stay out of trouble while still having a shot at winning: “There’s always pressure, you’re competing with top drivers and you can’t relax, of course I am in the best position in the championship, and I have to try to be smart, even if when I put the helmet on I want to win of course.”

The title race is paramount for the Argentinian, who believes the five points scored with pole position are very important: “If we go away from Argentina with the same points advantage then it will already be positive, because there will be less races left, so scoring these five points when (Honda’s) Tiago (Monteiro) didn’t get to Q3 is very nice. It’s always difficult to beat these guys (Honda), but it’s more important to win the championship than the single races. This is another step forward towards our objective, which is the championship.”

López has known local driver Guerrieri for a long time, and he is not surprised with the stunning performances put in so far by his fellow countryman: “Esteban (Guerrieri)’s performances show the quality of the drivers in Argentina. It’s easy to say now, but he knew he would be extremely quick. Still, I think we can leave Termas with some good points in our pockets.”