Nestor Girolami admits Nürburgring pole a “crazy” experience

Nestor Girolami admitted that his run to pole position at the Nürburgring had been “one of the craziest things” he has done in his career.

The All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport driver produced a stunning lap of 8:51.802s to smash the WTCR qualifying record held by Thed Björk – allowing him to jump ahead of title rival Yann Ehrlacher on the timing sheets.

Ehrlacher had led the way after the opening runs around the Nordschleife in fading light, with the Lynk & Co driver missing out on the chance to try and improve on his time when he failed to start his final lap of the session before the chequered flag dropped.

Girolami by contrast was lighting up the timing screens despite tricky conditions and was rewarded with the quickest time, and ten championship points that allowed him to close to within five of Ehrlacher in the standings.

“That was one of the craziest things I have done in my life,” he said. “The target was to score some points but I felt so confident in the car that I just had to go for it and I didn’t want to miss the chance to fight for pole.

“I took some risks and during the lap it was really dark; I missed some apexes because it was hard to see. The key was that we were able to get heat into the rear tyres and I’m so happy for the team as they deserve it.

“Congratulations to all of the team and we’ve now got a chance to score some good points this weekend, particularly in the second race.”