John Filippi was surprised to have claimed pole position for the opening TCR Europe race of the season at Circuit Paul Ricard, as the Hyundai driver edged out the Audi of Mehdi Bennani.
Filippi – who has yet to even score a top ten result in TCR Europe – claimed his first pole position in touring cars, having been competing in the category since 2014.
The Corsican had earlier been fifth fastest in Q1 but found six tenths of a second between the two sessions to bag a first pole in the series in his first race with Target Competition and Hyundai.
“I’m very happy to take the pole position,” said Filippi. “For me, it’s something special as it’s my first pole position in TCR since I started two years ago.
“When I saw how I started in FP1 with a lot of issues with the set-up, I worked hard with the team and so, when we came here this morning and got the pole position, it’s just unbelievable for me. I didn’t expect that.”
Filippi said his lap in Q2 was one of the best of his career, and he praised the efforts of his team in helping him to improve his pace, after he had been just 19th fastest in first practice on Friday.
“The first target was to go into Q2 and after, when I saw that I had the pace to fight for pole position, I didn’t hesitate. The lap in Q2 was one of the best I’ve ever done.
“In FP1, the feeling I had with the car wasn’t good and my driving wasn’t perfect, so it’s good for me to work with a great team like Target – they already have a lot of confidence and they have shared that confidence with me.”