Polestar’s Nicky Catsburg believes that his pole position lap in qualifying for the World Touring Car Championship in Argentina was ‘close to being the fastest we could do’ even though he went off the track at the exit of the last corner.
Catsburg, who also set the pace in second practice, posted a pole position time which ended up being almost two tenths faster than Honda’s Norbert Michelisz, thanks in part to running wide on the exit of the final turn.
That gave the Dutchman a slight advantage, and since he had already crossed the finish line, he suffered no penalty despite having been investigated by the Stewards for the off-track excursion.
“The lap was definitely good,” said Catsburg. “The whole day went very well already in FP1 and FP2, where we noticed we were quite fast. We made small improvements to the car and the team did a really good job with that, which showed in qualifying although it wasn’t easy, not at all.
“In Q3 the lap was close to being the fastest that we could do. The last corner was obviously spectacular to go onto the grass, which meant we gained a little bit of time there but I’m happy with pole position.”
Catsburg has edged two points closer to championship leader Tiago Monteiro with his pole, reducing the gap to eight points ahead of race day.
On top of that, Catsburg then lead Volvo to victory in the manufacturers’ MAC3 challenge after qualifying, completing a strong day for the 29-year-old.
“The championship is so close and every point counts, so five points for qualifying is really good for me.
“After that we scored many points compared to Honda in MAC3; so far the weekend is perfect us. But now we just need to do it for another day tomorrow and hopefully win some races.”