WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli took his third pole position of the season in qualifying for the TCR International Series at the Red Bull Ring, ahead of Honda team-mate Kevin Gleason.
Morbidelli improved on his second fastest time in second practice to go one better in qualifying, taking pole by over half a second from Gleason, with the Italian being unchallenged in Q2.
“It was an unexpected pole and I am very happy, because I really love this track and its facilities,” said Morbidelli. “I was really impressed by the three quick laps I did, it shows we came a long way since this morning’s first free practice.
“We changed a lot of things in the set-up and made some final adjustments between Q1 and Q2. The track conditions have been changing constantly during the day, given also the rising temperatures and the different tyre compounds left by the other series.
“The start will be key and I hope we can improve from recent races. My objective is clear: to retrieve the championship leadership, so I’m happy to have already taken the five points of the pole.”
Behind the Honda duo, TCR newcomer Dániel Nagy was the biggest shock of the session, with the Hungarian driver putting his Zengő Motorsport car in third and ending the session as the top SEAT driver.
Target Competition’s Stefano Comini was fourth fastest, despite the championship leader having been comfortably the quickest driver in Q1.
Craft-Bamboo Racing duo Sergey Afanasyev and Pepe Oriola were fifth and sixth fastest respectively, around a second off the pace.
Target Competition’s Andrea Belicchi had been second quickest in Q1, but in Q2 the Italian could only manage seventh, ahead of the third Craft-Bamboo car of Jordi Gené.
After their impressive earlier practice pace, both Volkswagen Golfs completed the top ten, with Mikhail Grachev in ninth ahead of Pol Rosell in tenth. The result means that the Liqui Moly Team Engstler duo will line up on the front row of the grid for race two.
Igor Skuz qualified his WestCoast Honda in 11th, but the Ukrainian will start from the back of the grid for race one as a result of his penalty incurred in Austria, when he crashed out of the race along with Bas Schouten.
Q2 times
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 5 | 1:39.716 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 6 | 1:40.335 | 0.619 |
| 3 | 43 | Dániel NAGY |  |
Zengő Motorsport | SEAT León Racer | 6 | 1:40.567 | 0.851 |
| 4 | 25 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 6 | 1:40.634 | 0.918 |
| 5 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 6 | 1:40.714 | 0.998 |
| 6 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 6 | 1:40.719 | 1.003 |
| 7 | 33 | Andrea BELICCHI | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 6 | 1:40.755 | 1.039 |
| 8 | 88 | Jordi GENÉ | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 6 | 1:40.974 | 1.258 |
| 9 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf TCR | 6 | 1:40.988 | 1.272 |
| 10 | 42 | Pol ROSELL | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf TCR | 6 | 1:41.097 | 1.381 |
| 11 | 20 | Igor SKUZ |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 5 | 1:41.322 | 1.606 |
| 12 | 7 | Lorenzo VEGLIA | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 6 | 1:41.532 | 1.816 |