Esteban Guerrieri admitted that he was disappointed to end the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) season without a pole position, after the Münnich Motorsport driver ended up with two seconds in Friday’s Macau qualifying sessions.
Guerrieri thought he had done enough to secure pole in the first qualifying session, but the Argentine celebrated too early as Macau maestro Huff blitzed his time to steal pole by just under half a second.
That left Guerrieri n second on the grid for Saturday’s first race – despite a controversial incident (pictured) which saw him baulk Yvan Muller on his flying lap late in the session.
“My lap was very good and also Yvan’s, but his [Huff’s] lap must have been amazing,” said Guerrieri. “I would like to see that onboard.
“About the incident with Yvan, when I got out of the car I went to ask what happened. He said I blocked him but to be honest I didn’t see, I was on my slowing lap and we will have to check that. We will talk to him later about this for sure.
“My qualifying was a nice one – I was on a very good progression. On my third run I messed up in sector three so it [wasn’t] a very good run, so I pitted in.
“But I have to thank Yann [Ehrlacher] because he went out with used tyres because he has and engine penalty and he starts at the back so he towed me on the first sector and then I did a very good second, third and fourth sector to get provisional pole.
“I was actually thinking it was done, I don’t know if the TV was wrong with the sectors but Rob said he gained everything later. I saw he was 0.6 seconds slower, so I thought everything was done, but apparently he gained 0.9 seconds back.”
After ending the season with a second successive front row start, Guerrieri admitted that he was disappointed to have missed out on claiming top honours in any of the season’s 20 qualifying sessions.
“Congratulations to Rob; he’s the King of Macau and I have to improve in the next years. But it was very much fun. I really enjoyed driving today to the limit trying to find the edge.
“In the end to be honest I am a little bit disappointed because I haven’t had a pole position the whole season and I was very much looking forward to this one today because I celebrated a bit too early in [first qualifying] and of course I didn’t know about [Huff’s] time.
“I really wanted this one. It’s quite ironic I have the best qualifying average but without the pole. It feels a little bit sweet and sour but in the end I am happy and tomorrow this is going to be a good fight.”