Double pole for Urrutia, as Ehrlacher is closer to the title
Santiago Urrutia emerged as the fastest driver in the final Qualifying session of the 2020 WTCR at Motorland Aragón. At the wheel of his Lynk & Co 03, the young Uruguayan set the fastest lap in both, Q1 and Q3, securing pole positions for tomorrow’s races 1 and 3. His colleague and championship leader Yann Ehrlacher was classified fifth in Q1 and second in Q2, scoring five points and stretching his margin to 31 points over his closest rival Esteban Guerrieri. Just like two weeks ago, the Argentine had another disappointing Qualifying and will have to start all the three races from the 18th position, which seriously jeopardises his odds in the title fight.
One of the top players today was Jean-Karl Vernay in the Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta. After posting the second fastest lap in Q1, the Frenchman was fastest in Q2 but then spoiled his chances in Q3 with a big mistake in the first sector.
In Q1, Vernay was the first driver to complete a lap in less than 1:14, setting a provisional fastest time of 1:13.819 that was beaten by only six thousandths by Urrutia’s 1:13.813 just before the end of the 20-minute period. Mikel Azcona (1:14.070), Yvan Muller (1:14.155) and Ehrlacher (1:14.164) filled the positions between third and fifth, while Nathanaël Berthon, Thed Björk, Gilles Magnus, Norbert Michelisz, Gabriele Tarquini, Néstor Girolami and Bence Boldizs completed the Q2 line up.
Ehrlacher set the pace at the beginning of Q2 with a lap of 1:13.988, but Vernay posted a 1:13.474 that was to remain the fastest lap of the day. Urrutia (1:13.725) moved up into P2, while the last attempts of Björk (1:13.979) and Berthon (1:14.006) meant they qualified third and fifth, kicking Azcona and Tarquini off the top-five for Q3. Muller posted the tenth fastest lap that will give him the pole position on the reversed grid for Race 2, completing a hat-trick of poles for Lynk & Co.
Vernay was the first to start in Q3 and immediately spoiled his chances, as he lost control of his car and went wide, narrowly missing a stack of tyres. Ehrlacher, Berthon and Björk did not make mistakes and qualified in the order covered by 15 hundredths of a second, but Urrutia put in a perfect lap and secured his second pole position of the day.
Race 1 will start on Sunday at 09:15 local time (CET).
Qualifying
2:13.471 – Santiago Urrutia (Cyan Performance, Lynk & Co 03)
2:13.623 – Yann Ehrlacher (Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03)
2:13.754 – Nathanaël Berthon (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)
2:13.771 – Thed Björk (Cyan Performance, Lynk & Co 03)
No time – Jean-Karl Vernay (Team Mulsanne, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce)
Championship points
1. Yann Ehrlacher 194 pts; 2. Esteban Guerrieri 163; 3. Jean-Karl Vernay 151
Picture: WTCR/DPPI
