Record-breaking pole position for Esteban Guerrieri

“I knew today was going to be an important day; one that would define whether we would lead the championship at half-distance or be caught. Pole and third are great results and give us a good shot at winning at least one race, as well as increasing our lead in the championship. The car was very good in the drying conditions and it was a very good strategic call to go out right at the start of Q1, because the yellow flags and Code 60s meant nobody could do a fast lap to challenge us after the 10-minute mark. In second qualifying it was obvious the track would dry so I did one lap on wets, one with a mix and one on slicks, which was good for third. Coming through the fourth sector the steam was rising from the track and it was like driving through a cloud; it’s one of the most intense experiences I’ve had in a racing car and I’ll remember it for a long, long time.”

“We had one very good qualifying session and one very bad one. The lap in Q1 was very good and the whole performance with Esteban and myself was very good from the team, so we’re in a good position to score big points. In Q2 I went purple on my last lap, but then I was called in for exceeding the noise limit and the race officials wouldn’t let me go back out, so I missed the driest part of qualifying and start 24th twice. We have to do a thorough investigation of what happened and make sure it doesn’t affect our chance of finishing on the podium tomorrow.”

“Pole position and third place are very good results for Esteban, not just because of what it means for the races, but because we’ve also added some points onto our leads in the Drivers’ and Teams’ Championship with the bonuses, and this is very important. It was a great strategy call to send both Esteban and Bebu out in Q1 straight away and we benefited hugely from it because of the yellow flags. It’s a shame for Bebu about what happened with the noise of his car, but we will investigate this thoroughly and make sure he has the best chance possible for tomorrow’s race.”

“The work we’ve done behind the scenes pays off every time, but here we can really see it in the results. We’re very proud of Attila because his last lap here that put him eighth was only his fifth lap around the Nordschleife ever! That’s a fantastic achievement. He made some excellent preparation with the simulator and watching videos, so he’s done a very good job. Tiago also did well and had he not had his issue in the Code-60 zone, we might even be looking at a reversed-grid pole. Tomorrow’s race will be tough and we just have to get through it, but on Saturday we have a really good chance of four points finishes and this is our aim 100 per cent.”