Aku Pellinen claimed pole position for his FIA European Touring Car Cup return at Imola this afternoon, with Petr Fulín narrowly beaten to top spot in a dramatic qualifying session. However, by outpacing his ETCC Super 2000 Cup title rival Kris Richard, Czech SEAT racer Fulín will take a one-point lead into Sunday’s opening 11-lap contest having arrived in Italy level on points with the Swiss Honda pilot.

Finnish racer Pellinen, a frontrunner in the ETCC in 2014, was already on top of the times prior to an early red flag to allow gravel to be cleared from the track, and went even quicker after the restart in his TCN2-specification Honda Civic to secure pole with a time of 1m53.483s around the 4.909-kilometre Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Fulín came very close to claiming a crucial pole for the title decider, but ended up 0.027s away from Pellinen’s Honda, albeit three-tenths of a second faster than Richard. With bonus points of 3-2-1 awarded for qualifying, Fulín moves one point in front of Richard prior to the first of two races shown live on Eurosport 2 and streamed as they happen online at FIAETCC.com.

“It wasn’t the perfect lap,” said Finn Pellinen, who has been drafted in to the Rikli Motorsport line-up this weekend to bolster Richard’s title push. “I had a few mistakes here and there, then we tried to improve with another set of new tyres at the end but I had some traffic in the first sector so that ruined that lap. But anyway it’s a nice feeling to be fastest here, I made a good result and I’m pleased with my own driving now and also with the team. They have been  working hard on my car and it’s starting to be quite close to my driving style so it’s a good  feeling to be here.”

Fulín was less than happy despite his status as the new leader of the ETCC Super 2000 Cup. “I am very disappointed about [Peter] Rikli because in my fast lap he brake me after the first corner and I almost crash into him,” he said. “Of course I am one point better but I am not sure about the whole situation because these [Honda] guys will be starting ahead and behind and I expect some strategy by them. I am confident [Aku] will do everything to help Kris.”

Richard encountered problems of his own when a technical fault struck his Honda. “The first  part of the qualifying I was not able to do a good lap,” he said. “I had some traffic and some mistakes from my side. I was a little too aggressive. After the red flag on my first lap I had the same problem like the test two weeks ago when the engine turns off and I was not able to switch it on again. I have no idea where the problem is and I hope we will find the problem. Maybe it is something with the ECU and the electrics but we will see tomorrow.”

Former multiple FIA European Hillclimb champion Igor Stefanovski, from Macedonia, was fourth fastest, and only 0.063s away from denying Richard third on his first appearance for ASK Lein Racing. Fulín’s Křenek Motorsport team-mate Christjohannes Schreiber was fifth with fellow Swiss Peter Rikli sixth, Hungary’s Norbert Nagy seventh and German Andreas Pfister eighth.

Portugal’s Fábio Mota took ninth with Swiss Claudio Truffer P10 on his ETCC debut. Boštan Avbelj and fellow newcomer Adrian Spescha completed the Super 2000 Cup contingent. Following the session, Rikli was demoted three places after being adjudged to have overtaken under red flags.

Eighteen-year-old German Kevin Hilgenhövel took the Super 1600 pole position in his Peugeot for the first time, 0.136s ahead of the category champion and compatriot Nicklas Mackschin, who celebrates turning 22 tomorrow. Czech Tomáš Korený, 16, was third in class following a gearbox change ahead of qualifying. Andreas Rinke, Ulrike Krafft, Ksenia Niks and Daniel Niermann completed the runners. “The pole position lap was very good and my car was working really well so it’s a good start to the weekend,” said Hilgenhövel.

Race 1 begins from a rolling start at 12h35 local time on Sunday with Race 2 from a standing start at 13h35 with the top eight finishers from Race 1 lining up in reverse order. Both races are scheduled for 11 laps and will be broadcast live on Eurosport 2 and online at FIAETCC.com.