Gianni Morbidelli, pole position: “I am very happy with this pole in the first outing of the ‘step 2’ car. We did a couple of tests in Italy and then came here, so evidently, the team did a good job. This is of course an evolution of the car we used so far, so we are not starting from zero, and there is still a lot of room for improvement, as proved by the excellent time of Kevin (Gleason) in the previous car, despite a 20kg success ballast. We did a long run in the free practice and everything went well, so we are confident for tomorrow. The only worry may be the high temperature.”

Pepe Oriola, second: “I made an almost perfect lap and the car was performing very well. We have a good set-up and I hope I can have a good start tomorrow and avoid high temperatures. Championship-wise, it is essential to preserve the car for Race 2. For the time being, I am happy to have reduced the gap from Comini by 4 points.”

Kevin Gleason, third: “First of all, congratulations to the team and Gianni for the very good debut of the step 2 car. I had quite a good session, considering also the success ballast I am carrying, but one is never entirely happy when he is not first of the group… We’ll see what happens tomorrow, I think it will be a clean and good fight with Gianni, with no strategy prepared before-hand.”

Munnkong Sathienthirakul, pole position in TCR Asia: “It’s very nice to be here, it wasn’t really expected. I have a lot to learn this weekend, as this is my first time with the car and in the TCR. Frankly, I had expected a little bit faster lap time, but at this stage to try to improve may be very tricky, as you have to be much harder with the car.”