Gabriele Tarquini takes last-gasp pole in BRC Hyundai 1-2

Gabriele Tarquini wrestled pole position from the sister BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR of Norbert Michelisz ahead of the opening FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) contest in Slovakia.

Tarquini – who improved in the dying embers to a 2:09.312s around the 3.6 mile circuit, and again lowered the lap record for TCR machinery – edged out Michelisz by three tenths of a second.

Half a second splits the top two from the YMR-run Hyundai of current championship leader Yvan Muller.

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Courtesy of his tenth-placed finish, Muller’s newphew Yann Ehrlacher will start the second race from pole position after the reverse grid is applied.

Aurelien Comte (Peugeot 308) and Pepe Oriola (CUPRA) were split by just a tenth of a second in their pursuit of fourth and fifth respectively, with Esteban Guerrieri putting in a weekend-best showing so far to sixth.

Reigning WTCC Champion Thed Bjork qualified seventh on the road in the sister YMR car, but will take a grid penalty for changing his engine without force majeuere and start at the very back.

Jean-Karl Vernay was again the leading WRT-run Audi RS 3 LMS in eighth, though team-mate Gordon Shedden again struggled and could only manage 20th minus a trip through the gravel at Turn 6.

Tom Coronel finally enjoyed a drama-free session to run ninth in the Boutsen Ginion-run Honda Civic Type R, with Ehrlacher rounding out the top ten.

Local hero Mat’o Homola managed 11th, with the leading Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR of Fabrizio Giovanardi also struggling to 15th.

Frustration continues at Sebastien Loeb Racing, with Rob Huff 23rd and team-mate Medhi Bennani just behind.

The opening race of the weekend gets underway at 11:00 BST tomorrow [14th July].

UPDATE – Norbert Michelisz, Yvan Muller and Thed Björk were later excluded from the qualifying results for having not respected the maximum boost pressure published in the BoP chart for the event.

Amended qualifying result

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	30	Gabriele TARQUINI		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	6	2:09.312	0.000
2	7	Aurélien COMTE		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	9	2:10.326	1.014
3	74	Pepe ORIOLA		Team Oscaro by Campos Racing	CUPRA TCR	9	2:10.475	1.163
4	86	Esteban GUERRIERI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	8	2:10.487	1.175
5	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	10	2:10.565	1.253
6	9	Tom CORONEL		Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	7	2:10.752	1.440
7	68	Yann EHRLACHER		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	9	2:10.870	1.558
8	70	Mat’o HOMOLA		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	11	2:11.030	1.718
9	21	Aurélien PANIS		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	10	2:11.170	1.858
10	20	Denis DUPONT		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	6	2:11.199	1.887
11	23	Nathanaël BERTHON		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	9	2:11.230	1.918
12	88	Fabrizio GIOVANARDI		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	10	2:11.284	1.972
13	63	Benjamin LESSENNES		Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	10	2:11.368	2.056
14	22	Frédéric VERVISCH		Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS	9	2:11.414	2.102
15	8	Norbert NAGY		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	10	2:11.514	2.202
16	44	Petr FULÍN		Fullin Race Academy	CUPRA TCR	10	2:11.516	2.204
17	52	Gordon SHEDDEN		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	9	2:11.646	2.334
18	31	Kevin CECCON		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	10	2:11.676	2.364
19	66	Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	10	2:11.808	2.496
20	12	Rob HUFF		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	9	2:11.843	2.531
21	25	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	9	2:12.366	3.054
22	17	Andrej STUDENIČ		Brutal Fish Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	11	2:13.529	4.217
23	27	John FILIPPI		Team Oscaro by Campos Racing	CUPRA TCR	1	No time	N/A
EX	5	Norbert MICHELISZ		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	6	2:09.664	0.352
EX	48	Yvan MULLER		YMR	Hyundai i30 N TCR	9	2:10.281	0.969
EX	11	Thed BJÖRK		YMR	Hyundai i30 N TCR	7	2:10.552	1.240