DG Sport Compétition’s Mat’o Homola took pole position in TCR International Series qualifying in Bahrain, but the Opel racer will not start either race from the front thanks to a penalty being applied.
The Opel Astras were the car to have in qualifying, with Homola’s team-mate Pierre-Yves Corthals having been fastest in Q1, with a time of 2 minutes 11.903 seconds, whilst Homola followed him up with the second best time just 0.246 seconds behind.
But in Q2, it was Homola who had the pace, putting in a lap which was over three-tenths faster than team-mate Corthals.
The Slovakian racer won’t start either race from pole position, however, as he has been hit with a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change due to overheating problems encountered in Friday’s practice running.
It means that Corthals will thus start on pole for race one, being joined on the front row by Hugo Valente, who was the leading Craft-Bamboo Racing driver in third.
Roberto Colciago was fourth fastest in his M1RA Honda Civic, ahead of the GE-Force Alfa Romeo of Davit Kajaia in fifth, who proved that his pace from the season opener in Georgia was no one-off.
Leopard Racing’s Jean-Karl Vernay was sixth, ahead of the second SEAT of Craft-Bamboo’s James Nash in seventh, who improved with a late lap in Q1 to secure his place in Q2.
M1RA’s Attila Tassi was eighth quickest, ahead of the second Alfa of Dušan Borković in ninth and Zele Racing’s Ferenc Ficza in tenth, the latter two forming the front row of the grid for the reversed second race.
A number of leading drivers appeared to be off the pace in the Bahraini desert, with West Coast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli in 11th and the third Craft-Bamboo car of Pepe Oriola in 12th.
Reigning champion Stefano Comini couldn’t even get past Q1, with the Swiss racer down in 13th, despite a last-gasp effort to improve his time in the first segment. In the end the Audi racer was almost three seconds adrift of the pace.
Race one takes place later today at 16:30 local time (14:30 BST / 15:30 CEST).
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 70 | Mat’o Homola |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Opel Astra TCR | 3 | 2:12.073 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 23 | Pierre-Yves Corthals |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Opel Astra TCR | 4 | 2:12.451 | 0.378 |
| 3 | 7 | Hugo Valente |  |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 4 | 2:12.656 | 0.583 |
| 4 | 5 | Roberto Colciago |  |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 4 | 2:12.672 | 0.599 |
| 5 | 16 | Davit Kajaia |  |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 3 | 2:12.877 | 0.804 |
| 6 | 2 | Jean-Karl Vernay | |
Leopard Racing Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 4 | 2:12.896 | 0.823 |
| 7 | 54 | James Nash |  |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 4 | 2:12.945 | 0.872 |
| 8 | 9 | Attila Tassi |  |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 4 | 2:13.032 | 0.959 |
| 9 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 4 | 2:13.056 | 0.983 |
| 10 | 55 | Ferenc Ficza | |
Zele Racing | SEAT León TCR | 2 | 2:13.118 | 1.045 |
| 11 | 10 | Gianni Morbidelli | |
West Coast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 4 | 2:13.253 | 1.180 |
| 12 | 74 | Pepe Oriola |  |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 4 | 2:13.273 | 1.200 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 23 | Pierre-Yves Corthals | |
DG Sport Compétition | Opel Astra TCR | 4 | 2:11.903 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 70 | Mat’o Homola | |
DG Sport Compétition | Opel Astra TCR | 4 | 2:12.149 | 0.246 |
| 3 | 5 | Roberto Colciago | |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 4 | 2:12.956 | 1.053 |
| 4 | 2 | Jean-Karl Vernay | |
Leopard Racing Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 4 | 2:13.223 | 1.320 |
| 5 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ | |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 5 | 2:13.273 | 1.370 |
| 6 | 7 | Hugo Valente | |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 4 | 2:13.291 | 1.388 |
| 7 | 9 | Attila Tassi | |
M1RA | Honda Civic Type-R TCR | 6 | 2:13.297 | 1.394 |
| 8 | 55 | Ferenc Ficza | |
Zele Racing | SEAT León TCR | 5 | 2:13.356 | 1.453 |
| 9 | 54 | James Nash | |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 4 | 2:13.374 | 1.471 |
| 10 | 10 | Gianni Morbidelli | |
West Coast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 6 | 2:13.936 | 2.033 |
| 11 | 74 | Pepe Oriola | |
Lukoil Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León TCR | 6 | 2:14.000 | 2.097 |
| 12 | 16 | Davit Kajaia | |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 5 | 2:14.365 | 2.462 |
| 13 | 1 | Stefano Comini |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 2:14.751 | 2.848 |
| 14 | 88 | Michela Cerruti | |
GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 6 | 2:14.780 | 2.877 |
| 15 | 21 | Giacomo Altoè | |
West Coast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 2:15.061 | 3.158 |
| 16 | 18 | Duncan Ende |  |
Icarus Motorsports | SEAT León TCR | 4 | 2:17.074 | 5.171 |