Esteban Guerrieri put his pole position effort down to taking a risk in the final sector around the Circuito do Estoril in Portugal, giving the Honda driver his first FIA World Touring Car Cup pole of the season.
In the single-lap Q3, Guerrieri edged out home hero Tiago Monteiro and fellow Argentine Néstor Girolami to take pole by a tenth of a second.
The Münnich Motorsport Honda drivers had been strong throughout the qualifying session, with Guerrieri fastest in Q1 ahead of his three team-mates before Monteiro led a Honda top four in Q2.
But it was Guerrieri who prevailed in Q3, despite the 36-year-old having ‘messed up’ his first two sectors of the lap.
“We’ve had a very strong weekend so far,” said Guerrieri. “It’s fantastic to come to a new track for the WTCR and secure pole.
“Before qualifying we’d had a good start with our preparation, and we’re all pushing each other very hard which is an important part of being a team.
“Talking about the lap itself, it was a very good last sector actually. That was the key to the lap because sector one and two were OK, but sector three I messed up with big oversteer and I had to recover somehow and I went to the last sector and attacked quite a bit.
“It just paid off because it’s very risky the last two corners to mess up with some understeer and stuff like this.
“But I knew if I wanted to be up there I had to [take] risk and it paid off. So really happy.”
New father Guerrieri thanked those close to him for the support he has received recently after he became a father in the week leading up to the event.
“I send this great result to my family, my son Milo who is new in this world since a week, so I’m very happy about this of course and to all my friends and family in Argentina for supporting over there in Latin America.”