Esteban Guerrieri admits that he has ‘mixed feelings’ after being denied pole position on his maiden World Touring Car Championship outing by a small misdemeanour in Q3.
The Argentine racer had been the fastest driver all day, save for José María López topping the Q2 session. Guerrieri had looked set to take a shock maiden pole position in Q3, when his time dis disallowed as he had not respected the pit exit light.
Without that penalty, Guerrieri would have taken pole by two tenths of a second in his Campos Racing Chevrolet, underlining the potential he has despite benefiting from running 80 kg less compensation weight than his Citroën rivals.
“Today I have mixed feelings,” said Guerrieri, who will line up in fifth for the Main Race as a result of losing his Q3 time. “If it’s good to make a progression, then we did this and we were the fastest on the track. I’m pleased with that and I am happy to have been able to adapt to the car because even if I had knowledge of the circuit, I didn’t have knowledge of the car, so I had to adapt to this as much and as fast as I could.
“The team helped me a lot and it was a nice transition. For the qualifying I have nothing to say really. I had a small problem that meant the situation was not easy. The neutral gear didn’t work the whole day and I couldn’t wait for the lights to go green because I was worried my clutch would burn up.
“Now I have to put this behind me and be positive for tomorrow. There’s nothing much more to say.”
Guerrieri was full of praise for those who have made his début possible, including Eurosport Events boss François Ribeiro and the team at Campos Racing, who are running a second car for the 31-year-old.
“I am grateful for the welcome I have had from all the people in this category from François going down.
“I also want to thank Campos Racing because when I arrived at this circuit I realised it was going to be something that’s good, they are very professional and they know what they are doing.
“What I like to do in motorsport is to progress and they showed me everything I needed and I am really proud of the team.”