Thed Björk was the driver closest to the two Hyundai cars of Mikel Azcona and Norbert Michelisz in qualifying, but with the Lynk & Co Cyan Racing driver seven tenths of a second away from Azcona’s stunning pole position time, the Swedish driver thinks a podium finish might be the best result possible on race day.
Björk will line up third, just ahead of team-mate Ma Qing Hua, with the two Lynk & Co racers pushing as hard as they could, while their teammates Santiago Urrutia and Yann Ehrlacher, who both have engine change penalties for Race 1, opted for an alternative qualifying strategy.
“I was struggling a lot with my balance in the car, it was snapping a lot in the rear, and the Hyundai beat us by seven-tenths,” said Björk. “It was so frustrating. Ma and I were going flat out, while my other team-mates were after P10 which made sense after their engine changes. Tomorrow, I think P3 is the best we can do. The Hyundai cars are sneaky fast, and I think a lot of the rest us were struggling with the pace. We should have been closer, I don’t think we would have been able to beat them, but seven-tenths is too much. However, with all the dirt and gravel we’ve been putting on the track, it shows it’s easy to make a mistake here. And now if you go off-line it’s quite dirty, so there’s a possibility there also, so hopefully there’s a good fight tomorrow.”
Picture: WSC/MotorSportMedia
