Luca Engstler claims second straight pole in Thailand

Luca Engstler claimed his second consecutive pole position in the TCR Asia series, putting his Volkswagen golf on pole in Buriram ahead of Engstler Motorsport team-mates Diego Moran and Mitchell Cheah.

Engstler’s time was more than four tenths faster than Ecuadorian team-mate Moran, whilst Malaysia’s Cheah, who had been fastest in the Q1 session, ending up third, just over half a second adrift.

The German claims an additional five championship points for pole, moving him to level with series leader Cheah ahead of the weekend’s two races on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Elegant Racing’s Alex Liu Lic Ka was fourth fastest in his SEAT, ahead of the leading TCR Thailand entry of Jakraphan Davee in fifth, with both drivers more than a second off Engstler’s pace.

Chariya Nuya was the second-quickest TCR Thailand driver in sixth in his BBR Honda Civic, ahead of Vattana Motorsport’s Honda driver Pattarapol Vongprai in seventh.

TCR asia regular Douglas Khoo was eighth, whilst completing the top ten were Elegant Racing’s Kelvin Wong and Maximum Racing’s newcomer, Hong Konger Clement Tong in their SEAT and Honda respectively.

The reverse grid format will give Tong pole position for the second race on Sunday, in only his second TCR Asia race.

Race one takes place at 14:00 local time (08:00 BST) on Saturday, with race two at 15:05 local time (09:05 BST) on Sunday.

Q2 results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	8	Luca ENGSTLER		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	4	1:43.401	0.000
2	32	Diego MORAN		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	6	1:43.885	0.484
3	29	Mitchell CHEAH Min Jie		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	4	1:43.903	0.502
4	3	Alex LIU Lic Ka		Elegant Racing Team	SEAT León TCR SEQ V2	6	1:44.563	1.162
5	133	Jakraphan DAVEE		Alphafactory Racing Team by Pulzar	SEAT León TCR DSG V3	6	1:44.648	1.247
6	15	Chariya NUYA		Billionaire Boy Racing (BBR)	Honda Civic TCR 2017	5	1:44.772	1.371
7	59	Pattarapol VONGPRAI		Vattana Motorsport	Honda Civic TCR 2017	6	1:44.806	1.405
8	65	Douglas KHOO Kok Hui		Viper Niza Racing	SEAT León TCR SEQ V3	6	1:44.882	1.481
9	33	Kelvin WONG Kiang Kuan		Elegant Racing Team	SEAT León TCR SEQ V2	6	1:45.079	1.678
10	5	Clement TONG Yat Him		Maximum Racing	Honda Civic TCR 2017	6	1:46.188	2.787
11	96	Nattanid LEEWATTANAVARAGUL		Morin Racing Team by Sunoco	SEAT León TCR DSG V3	5	1:48.210	4.809
12	28	LO Sze Ho		Maximum Racing	Honda Civic TCR 2016	2	No time	N/A

Q1 results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	29	Mitchell CHEAH Min Jie		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	8	1:44.043	0.000
2	32	Diego MORAN		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	8	1:44.204	0.161
3	8	Luca ENGSTLER		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	6	1:44.269	0.226
4	133	Jakraphan DAVEE		Alphafactory Racing Team by Pulzar	SEAT León TCR DSG V3	11	1:44.714	0.671
5	96	Nattanid LEEWATTANAVARAGUL		Morin Racing Team by Sunoco	SEAT León TCR DSG V3	6	1:44.916	0.873
6	15	Chariya NUYA		Billionaire Boy Racing (BBR)	Honda Civic TCR 2017	4	1:45.066	1.023
7	59	Pattarapol VONGPRAI		Vattana Motorsport	Honda Civic TCR 2017	6	1:45.269	1.226
8	65	Douglas KHOO Kok Hui		Viper Niza Racing	SEAT León TCR SEQ V3	10	1:45.543	1.500
9	28	LO Sze Ho		Maximum Racing	Honda Civic TCR 2016	9	1:45.647	1.604
10	3	Alex LIU Lic Ka		Elegant Racing Team	SEAT León TCR SEQ V2	11	1:45.649	1.606
11	33	Kelvin WONG Kiang Kuan		Elegant Racing Team	SEAT León TCR SEQ V2	10	1:45.858	1.815
12	5	Clement TONG Yat Him		Maximum Racing	Honda Civic TCR 2017	6	1:46.102	2.059
13	66	Nattachak HANJITKASEM		TBN MK ihear Racing Team	Honda Civic TCR 2017	6	1:46.286	2.243