Kevin Ceccon described his pole position lap in Suzuka as ‘something incredible’ after he secured the first pole position for Team Mulsanne in the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) and the first for Alfa Romeo in FIA competition in 11 years.
Ceccon was comfortably clear in the main three-aprt qualifying session at the Suzuka Circuit on Friday, beating fellow Italian Gabriele Tarquini to the best time in Q3 by a significant seven tenths of a second.
The time was all the more impressive considering the relative lack of experience from Ceccon, who only joined touring car racing ahead of the Slovakiaring event in July, as well as the pace from his Alfa Romeo Giulietta, which just three weeks ago was struggling for pace in China.
His pole follows up an equally impressive performance in the qualifying session for race one, also held on Friday, where the 25-year-old secured a front-row starting position alongside the Peugeot of Aurélien Comte.
“It’s something incredible for me and for the team,” said Ceccon. “It’s the first pole position for me in the World Championship and also the first pole position for Team Mulsanne and the first pole position for Alfa Romeo. It’s a great day for everyone.
“It has been our first Q3 – one shot, one kill, and [we’re] P1. It was an amazing lap. I was sure I could have done a bit better than Q2, but it’s not always easy to improve. But it was an amazing lap and I’m really, really happy for the job that we did.”
It marks the first pole position in FIA competitions for Alfa Romeo since James Thompson took pole in the WTCC at Valencia in 2007.
Ceccon admits that holding on to the lead in Sunday’s third race could prove to be a challenge, especially with an experienced title contender like Tarquini starting alongside him.
“The level here is very high and the front row guys are fighting for the world championship, so they will not let me stay there easily.
“But I think I’ve got a little bit of experience. Even if I am still 25 I have been racing for ten years, so I will try to manage them and maybe take advantage.
“They will fight hard for every position because every point for them counts for a lot, so I will try to take advantage of that.”