Thed Björk rewarded the YMR mechanics who repaired his car after Saturday’s race one pileup by taking pole position in Sunday’s FIA world Touring Car Cup (WTCR) qualifying session, ahead of BRC Racing duo Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini.
Björk put in a flawless lap in Q3 in his repaired Hyundai i30 N TCR, despite the car having been heavily involved in the accident at the start of race one that saw it briefly catch fire just 18 hours earlier.
“It was a fantastic lap,” said Björk after scoring his fourth pole of the year. “The feeling driving the car, which the guys have been working on all night or they maybe got half an hour sleep or something, as they were up all night, was perfect.
“I can’t wish for anything else and I just have to drive. It’s so nice. It’s such a good feeling and I’m so proud of the guys.”
Michelisz, who was first to set a time in Q3, ended up in second, over three tenths further back, taking his best qualifying result since scoring pole at the Hungaroring.
Tarquini made it a Hyundai 1-2-3 at the front of the field, just under half a second adrift of the pace, ahead of Campos Racing’s Pepe Oriola in fourth, who lost time with a slide in the second sector of his Q3 lap.
Münnich Motorsport’s Yann Ehrlacher could only manage fifth after making a mistake at the chicane in sector two, with the Frenchman ultimately more than a second slower than Björk.
Sixth was Comtoyou Racing’s Aurélien Panis, the leading Audi driver, after a late improvement in Q2, ahead of Leopard Lukoil’s Jean-Karl Vernay in seventh.
DG Sport Compétition’s Mat’o Homola improved on his Saturday qualifying effort to put his Peugeot in eighth, whilst the front row of the reverse-grid second race will see YMR’s Yvan Muller and Leopard Lukoil’s Gordon Shedden at the front after they qualified in ninth and tenth respectively.
Campos Racing’s John Filippi only just missed out on the grid reversal and will start 11th for races two and three respectively, ahead of Boutsen Ginion Racing’s Benjamin Lessennes in 12th.
A continuation of technical issues for the Comtoyou Audi drivers persisted in Q1, with Frédéric Vervisch crawling to a halt and causing a ten-minute stoppage, leaving the Belgian down in 21st. His team-mate Nathanaël Berthon, who qualified 13th, also stopped at the end of the session with a technical issue.
Veloso Motorsport’s Edgar Florindo was the best of the wildcard entries, putting his CUPRA in 17th, whilst José Rodrigues was 23rd in the older-spec Honda Civic run by Target Competition.
The second Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda of Tom Coronel hit the barriers during Q1, causing the second red flag stoppage, leaving the Dutchman to start from the back of the grid in 24th for both races.
Despite Saturday’s carnage, almost all cars have been repaired ahead of Sunday’s action, with only three cars missing. Unsurprisingly both Sébastien Loeb Racing cars of Rob Huff and Mehdi Bennani have been withdrawn, and the team have left the circuit, as well as the Münnich Motorsport Honda of James Thompson, which required a new gearbox to be installed.
Race two gets underway at 15:45 BST (16:45 CEST) followed by race three at 17:10 BST (18:10 CEST).
Q3 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 1:59.824 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:00.164 | 0.340 |
| 3 | 30 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:00.319 | 0.495 |
| 4 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 3 | 2:00.426 | 0.602 |
| 5 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 3 | 2:01.266 | 1.442 |
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK | |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 1:59.946 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 5 | 2:00.365 | 0.419 |
| 3 | 30 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:00.424 | 0.478 |
| 4 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA | |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 6 | 2:00.426 | 0.480 |
| 5 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 2:00.465 | 0.519 |
| 6 | 21 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 5 | 2:00.627 | 0.681 |
| 7 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 6 | 2:00.636 | 0.690 |
| 8 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 6 | 2:00.637 | 0.691 |
| 9 | 48 | Yvan MULLER | |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 2:01.011 | 1.065 |
| 10 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN |  |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 5 | 2:01.114 | 1.168 |
| 11 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 6 | 2:01.131 | 1.185 |
| 12 | 63 | Benjamin LESSENNES |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 6 | 2:01.135 | 1.189 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 30 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:00.564 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK | |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | 2:00.841 | 0.277 |
| 3 | 48 | Yvan MULLER | |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:00.866 | 0.302 |
| 4 | 21 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 10 | 2:00.876 | 0.312 |
| 5 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 2:00.996 | 0.432 |
| 6 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 7 | 2:01.076 | 0.512 |
| 7 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 9 | 2:01.130 | 0.566 |
| 8 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA | |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 7 | 2:01.151 | 0.587 |
| 9 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 2:01.255 | 0.691 |
| 10 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 9 | 2:01.297 | 0.733 |
| 11 | 63 | Benjamin LESSENNES | |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 7 | 2:01.323 | 0.759 |
| 12 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 2:01.426 | 0.862 |
| 13 | 23 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 10 | 2:01.626 | 1.062 |
| 14 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 2:01.654 | 1.090 |
| 15 | 88 | Fabrizio GIOVANARDI | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 10 | 2:01.721 | 1.157 |
| 16 | 8 | Norbert NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:01.750 | 1.186 |
| 17 | 13 | Edgar FLORINDO |  |
Veloso Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 2:01.809 | 1.245 |
| 18 | 20 | Denis DUPONT | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 10 | 2:01.983 | 1.419 |
| 19 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 8 | 2:02.345 | 1.781 |
| 20 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 6 | 2:02.421 | 1.857 |
| 21 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH | |
Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS | 5 | 2:02.726 | 2.162 |
| 22 | 66 | Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 3 | 2:03.115 | 2.551 |
| 23 | 26 | José RODRIGUES | |
Target Competition | Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR | 11 | 2:03.593 | 3.029 |
| 24 | 9 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 8 | 2:06.503 | 5.939 |
| 25 | 15 | James THOMPSON | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | – | No time | N/A |
| 26 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | – | No time | N/A |
| 27 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | – | No time | N/A |