Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Sergey Afanasyev took his first-ever pole position in the TCR International Series in Bahrain, beating B3 Racing’s Dušan Borković to the top time.
Borković had earlier been the fastest driver in Qualifying 1, where the Serbian saw off WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli for the top time.
But Afansyev, who had been seventh in the first part of qualifying, put in a superb lap on his second run in Q2 to take a first-ever pole in his SEAT León racer.
Borković had to settle for second on the grid, just 0.101 seconds behind the Russian, ahead of the second Craft-Bamboo car of James Nash in third.
Morbidelli was the leading Honda driver in fourth, despite having put in the fastest lap early on in Q2.
Last season’s runner-up Pepe Oriola was fifth in his SEAT, ahead of WestCoast Racing’s Aku Pellinen in sixth. The top six drivers in the session were covered by less than two tenths of a second, despite the Bahrain International Circuit being one of the longest on the calendar.
Slovak racer Mat’o Homola was seventh, ahead of the third Honda of Kevin Gleason in eighth.
Completing the top ten were Volkswagen Golf newcomers Jean-Karl Vernay for Leopard Racing, and Davit Kajaia for Liqui Moly Team Engstler.
The TCR sporting regulations mean that the Frenchman and Georgian will start on the front row for the reverse-grid second race.
Just missing out on that reversal, therefore, were defending champion Stefano Comini, who put his Leopard Racing VW in 11th, and Target Competition’s Jordi Oriola, who put his new Opel Astra TCR in 12th.
Andrea Belicchi failed to make it through to Q2, putting his new Astra in 13th behind his younger team-mate.
Michela Cerruti qualified the new Romeo Ferraris-built Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR in 15th position on the car’s début weekend, albeit 2.782 seconds off the pace.
Yellow flags were called in Q1 when Luigi Ferrara stopped his Top Run Motorsport Subaru STi on track with broken suspension. The Italian qualified in 16th as a result, only completing five laps in Q1.
Local Bahraini duo Salman al Khalifa and Hussain Karimi propped up the grid in 17th and 18th positions respectively, over three seconds off the pace in their older-specification SEAT León Racers.
Q2 times
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 2:12.541 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 2:12.642 | 0.101 |
| 3 | 54 | James NASH |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 2:12.650 | 0.109 |
| 4 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 11 | 2:12.652 | 0.111 |
| 5 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 2:12.663 | 0.122 |
| 6 | 14 | Aku PELLINEN |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 11 | 2:12.718 | 0.177 |
| 7 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 2:13.029 | 0.488 |
| 8 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 11 | 2:13.097 | 0.556 |
| 9 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 11 | 2:13.155 | 0.614 |
| 10 | 7 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 10 | 2:13.824 | 1.283 |
| 11 | 1 | Stefano Comini |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 11 | 2:14.050 | 1.509 |
| 12 | 33 | Jordi ORIOLA | |
Target Competition | Opel Astra TCR | 12 | 2:14.985 | 2.444 |