WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli took pole position for the second TCR International Series meeting in Shanghai, as he and his Honda Civic team-mates René Münnich and Kevin Gleason dominated the session.
Morbidelli and his Honda-driving team-mates dominated the session, with the Italian also topping Q1 by over half a second from Münnich and Gleason.
The top four were identical between Q1 and Q2, meaning that Münnich lines up alongside Morbidelli, with round one pole man Gleason qualifying in third. No other drivers were within a second of pole around the long Grand Prix circuit.
“I am very happy, everything went beyond expectations,” said a pleased Morbidelli after taking his first pole of the season. “I thought we would be in the mid-2 [minute] 16 [seconds] but was not expecting to be seventh tenths faster than that. The car was very well-balanced and I had a lot of grip. I saved the new tyres for today and everything went well.
“I must say I am extremely impressed by the professionalism of WestCoast Racing, they really work very methodically and efficiently.”
Mikhail Grachev gave Liqui Moly Team Engstler their best grid position of the season so far, putting his Audi TT Cup car in fourth, 1.381 seconds off the pace in Q2.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pepe Oriola was the top SEAT León Racer driver in fifth, ahead of series newcomer Norbert Tóth in sixth.
Franz Engstler ensured that both of his team’s Audis made it into the top ten, with the veteran German qualifying in seventh, ahead of championship leader Stefano Comini’s Target Competition SEAT in eighth.
Completing the top ten, and taking the front row of the grid for race two, were Target Competition duo Michel Nykjær and Andrea Belicchi.
Target’s fourth car, driven by Tengyi Jiang this weekend, missed out on a reverse-grid pole on home soil, qualifying in 11th ahead of Engstler Motorsport’s sole SEAT of Lorenzo Veglia in 12th.
Qualifying times in Q2 were in their entirety sorted by manufacturer and model, with three Honda Civics fastest followed by two Audi TTs and ten SEAT León Racers.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 5 | 2:15.798 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 23 | René MÜNNICH |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 5 | 2:16.267 | 0.469 |
| 3 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 5 | 2:16.542 | 0.744 |
| 4 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Audi Sport TT Cup | 5 | 2:17.179 | 1.381 |
| 5 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 5 | 2:17.206 | 1.408 |
| 6 | 47 | Norbert TÓTH |  |
Zengő Motorsport | SEAT León Racer | 5 | 2:17.349 | 1.551 |
| 7 | 6 | Franz ENGSTLER | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Audi Sport TT Cup | 4 | 2:17.421 | 1.623 |
| 8 | 25 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 4 | 2:17.737 | 1.939 |
| 9 | 17 | Michel NYKJÆR |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 5 | 2:17.738 | 1.940 |
| 10 | 33 | Andrea BELICCHI | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 5 | 2:17.774 | 1.976 |