Santiago Urrutia: “I didn’t expect to get the pole position”

Cyan Racing driver Santiago Urrutia claimed a “difficult” pole position in the FIA TCR World Tour qualifying session in Spain, leading a 1-2-3 for his team.

“The session was very hard,” Urrutia told TouringCarTimes.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect to be able to do the pole position as I have 30 kilos on the car and yesterday the Hyundais appeared very fast and Mikel (Azcona) even managed 39.8.”

The Uruguayan driver set his fastest time in Q2 on his first attempt to claim pole, despite times being faster in Q1.

“I went out with the car and I knew I would be improving lap by lap, so when I did that 40.0 I thought it would be enough to be in the top five, which is where I wanted to be,” said Urrutia.

“So, when I went out on the following lap and I did 40.3 and I apologised to the team, because I had given all I had on the previous lap, they said that I was on pole.

“It was very emotional for me, with the 30 kilos, and being in Spain, where I have lived,” added Urrutia.

The Uruguayan driver expects a tough race, despite starting from pole.

“The heat will affect us a lot in the race, as well as the 30 kilos, but this is part of the racing,” Urrutia.

“We have to hydrate ourselves and get ready, it’s the same for everyone. I think we will suffer a lot with the weight, and we will have to look after the tyres as much as possible.”

The Lynk & Co driver will start the first race ahead of his two team-mates Yann Ehrlacher and Ma Qing Hua.

“I don’t know what will happen, I hope they behave themselves, the championship has just started and the team hasn’t decided yet, so we will see how it goes,” said Urrutia.