Santiago Urrutia and Yann Ehrlacher waiting on team orders

Cyan Racing drivers Santiago Urrutia and Yann Ehrlacher locked out the front row for the first FIA WTCR race at Vila Real, with the Swedish squad yet to decide on which driver to put its drivers’ title focus on.

Urrutia claimed his first pole position since 2020, impressively enough on his first visit to Vila Real.

“I’m very happy, the track suited me well, as it happened as well at Pau, which was the first time I drove on a street track,” Urrutia told TouringCarTimes. “Today I did a very good lap and got the pole position and that makes me very happy because it’s something always difficult and even more in a street circuit.

“The team gave me a good car and we will see what strategy the team takes and where the priority lies to score points,” added the Uruguayan.

“So I’m happy with today’s work, we come from a difficult weekend at Motorland and this track has suited us very well, and being on pole, for my mechanics, engineers and the whole team, it’s a great result.”

Ehrlacher qualified in second place, 0.268 seconds behind his team-mate, with the reigning champion acknowledging that getting a good lap was far from easy.

“Both of us showed good pace, I think the pole position was a matter of just getting some things together,” the Frenchman told TouringCarTimes.

“I showed some very good pace in the FP2 and that’s where I should have been. I’m happy that the team scored many points today, I got ten points today and got track record, so I’m quite pleased about it.”

Ehrlacher and Urrutia are placed second and third respectively in the championship, separated by a single point.

Urrutia is the so far only one of the two to have claimed a victory this season. And as the WTCR closes in on the half-way point, Cyan Racing nears its decision on which driver to support for the title race, a decision which usually comes much earlier in the season.

“I’m a professional driver, I comply with the orders and respect the team’s decision with every order I receive,” said Urrutia. “It’s a great season, let’s see what happens for the rest of the championship, but I will respect every decision from now on.”

“Tonight we will have a big meeting and discuss the strategy for tomorrow and then we will see,” explained Ehrlacher. “My point is that I want to make Cyan Racing champion again and that will be our focus.”

The Frenchman is chasing a historic third consecutive title this year while Urrutia is chasing his first: “The season is still on, we have showed good pace. It’s not easy after two championships but I’m fully motivated. It’s harder and harder every year, because they don’t want us to win anymore, but we will try.”