Thompson on pole for ETCC finale

James Thompson has taken pole position after dominating every session at Franciacorta for the season finale of the European Touring Car Cup, ahead of Michel Nykjaer by just one-tenth of a second.

Thompson was quick to set a stunning pole position lap time of 1:15.512 despite running with 61kg of ballast. Thompson’s lap was also the first lap under 1:16 all weekend, and the Hartmann Honda Racing driver sat in the pits not even coming out for the last half of the session.

That move was almost a risk, as Michel Nykjaer set a lap of 1:15.642 on his final run in the SEAT León TDI, coming just 13 hundredths of a second within the Honda. The Danish driver could go no better though, and the 2009 DTC champion had to settle for second place.

Tomas Engström was third fastest in his Honda Accord Euro-R, whilst the second Hartmann Honda Accord of Austrian Wolfgang Treml was fourth fastest, 1.5 seconds down on his team-mate.

Super Production points leader Vojislav Lekić set the pole in the class, 11th overall in his AK Djelmas Sport Honda Civic Type-R.

In Super 1600, Carsten Seifert secured the class pole in his NK Racing Team Ford Fiesta ST, seven tenths of a second ahead of Charlie Geipel in the ATM Racing run Fiesta ST.