Yann Ehrlacher still “chasing wins” in back-to-back title bid

Yann Ehrlacher extended his WTCR points lead by taking maximum ten points in qualifying. The Lynk & Co driver says he was proud over his Q3 lap, which was almost perfect according to the young Frenchman.

“You can always do a little bit better, sometimes you can gain a few hundredths here and there, but to be honest the lap in Q3 was close to perfection,” said the defending champion to TouringCarTimes.

“I’m pleased to have done it in Q3 because it’s the most difficult exercise, and we bagged 10 points, which is very good.”

The Frenchman doesn’t take a win for granted come tomorrow, despite showing strong pace and taking a commanding pole position.

“In the races anything can happen, you can crash, be pushed out and not finish, so I don’t take anything for granted”, said the championship leader.

“Esteban (Guerrieri) is starting on the front row in race 1, so he has a chance as well to keep scoring. The strategy is to score as many points as possible and focus on ourselves, and even if we’re getting closer to the end of the championship I’m still chasing wins, because this is what I want and why I’m racing, so that’s the goal for the tomorrow.”

While Ehrlacher enjoys driving on the renewed Adria International Raceway, he doubts the layout will offer many opportunities to overtake. “The track is cool, especially in qualifying because it’s easy to make a mistake, especially in Q3. In the races we will have to see, because I’m not sure how many overtaking opportunities there will be and the first few corners will be a proper challenge, especially with the reverse grid.”

Speaking of the layout, there is talk in the paddock that the presence of several hairpins could favour accidents, but the Frenchman thinks there is not more risk than at any other races. “There is always a risk, but then again it’s there every time the car goes out on track. We will just look forwards and hope for the best.”

Lynk & Co colleague Thed Björk missed the front row by a mere three thousandths of a second and will instead start third.

“Of course it would have been a good help, but perhaps Thed can do a good start tomorrow and get up to second, and then we can race together. I would obviously have preferred him to be second not only for him to provide a cushion for me, but also to score more points for Lynk & Co. I’m sure we can sort that out tomorrow.”