Nicola Baldan has thanked his team after securing his first career pole position for what will be his 30^th start in the TCR Europe series at Circuit Zolder in Belgium.

The Italian driver’s time of 1:36.470 in his Baldan Group by Comtoyou Audi RS 3 LMS eclipsed the time of his closest rival, the CUPRA Leon VZ TCR of Aurélien Comte, by almost half a second at the 4km Zolder circuit.

Baldan bounced back after struggling in the wet conditions on Friday to show great pace throughout the two-part qualifying session, topping both parts.

The 41-year-old was quick to thank his team, which also receives technical support from Team Clairet Sport this season, for the improvements in set up overnight.

“We did a very good job after the troubles we had yesterday with setting up the car in the rain and dry, and we found the set up for the dry today,” he said.

“We knew we could be fast and were very confident, and were able to set the perfect lap in the qualifying session.

I deeply want to thank the team as they’ve helped me a lot have a good car and get the right pace to make this pole possible.”

Heading into this afternoon’s race, Baldan has ticked off one missing target with his first pole, but the 2017 TCR Italy series champion still hasn’t won a race in Europe yet, though he’s coy about the goal.

“Pole position was one of the goals we had for this season – we also have another one, but we won’t tell you what it is yet.”