Harald Proczyk secured his first TCR Germany pole of the season in a decisive qualifying session at the Hockenheimring, beating Hyundai title rival Luca Engstler to the top time to claw back a point in the championship fight.
In wet conditions, Proczyk put in his best qualifying effort of the year to secure pole position, having earlier only managed the fifth best time in a Q1 session which was red-flagged just minutes from the scheduled end.
Engstler took second and will thus line up alongside his rival on the front row of the grid, with the gap between the top two in the championship standing at just seven points after qualifying.
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen’s Mike Halder kept his now-distant title hopes alive by being third fastest, ahead of the leading Audi of Prosport Performance’s Max Hesse in fourth.
Max Kruse Racing’s Benjamin Leuchter was the best of the Volkswagen drivers in fifth, ahead of the best CUPRA of Pascal Eberle in sixth, making it six different models of car in the top six positions.
Proczyk’s team-mate Luke Wankmüller put his Opel in seventh, whilst Racing One’s title contender Niels Langeveld, currently third in the points and just 14 behind Engstler, could only manage eighth, although he will have the upper hand in the reverse-grid second race.
Completing the top ten were Positione Motorsport’s Jussi Kuusiniemi in ninth, after making just his second Q2 appearance of 2018, and Wolf-Power Racing’s Oliver Holdener in tenth, who took the reverse-grid pole.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 12:10 CEST (11:10 BST) on Saturday.
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 22 | Harald PROCZYK |  |
HP Racing International | Opel Astra TCR | 5 | 2:03.473 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 2:04.104 | 0.631 |
| 3 | 7 | Mike HALDER | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 5 | 2:04.125 | 0.652 |
| 4 | 19 | Max HESSE | |
Prosport Performance | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 2:04.301 | 0.828 |
| 5 | 10 | Benjamin LEUCHTER | |
Max Kruse Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 2:04.341 | 0.868 |
| 6 | 28 | Pascal EBERLE |  |
Steibel Motorsport 2 | CUPRA TCR | 5 | 2:04.381 | 0.908 |
| 7 | 11 | Luke WANKMÜLLER | |
HP Racing International | Opel Astra TCR | 5 | 2:04.387 | 0.914 |
| 8 | 14 | Niels LANGEVELD |  |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 2:04.609 | 1.136 |
| 9 | 29 | Jussi KUUSINIEMI |  |
Positione Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 2:04.943 | 1.470 |
| 10 | 6 | Oliver HOLDENER | |
Wolf-Power Racing | CUPRA TCR | 4 | 2:05.006 | 1.533 |
| 11 | 30 | Antti BURI | |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 2:05.019 | 1.546 |
| 12 | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER | |
Niedertscheider Motorsport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 5 | 2:05.553 | 2.080 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 7 | Mike HALDER | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 8 | 2:04.998 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 14 | Niels LANGEVELD | |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 2:05.420 | 0.422 |
| 3 | 28 | Pascal EBERLE | |
Steibel Motorsport 2 | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:05.430 | 0.432 |
| 4 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 2:05.512 | 0.514 |
| 5 | 22 | Harald PROCZYK | |
HP Racing International | Opel Astra TCR | 8 | 2:05.814 | 0.816 |
| 6 | 30 | Antti BURI | |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 2:06.005 | 1.007 |
| 7 | 10 | Benjamin LEUCHTER | |
Max Kruse Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 2:06.012 | 1.014 |
| 8 | 19 | Max HESSE | |
Prosport Performance | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 2:06.085 | 1.087 |
| 9 | 11 | Luke WANKMÜLLER | |
HP Racing International | Opel Astra TCR | 10 | 2:06.271 | 1.273 |
| 10 | 29 | Jussi KUUSINIEMI | |
Positione Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 2:06.344 | 1.346 |
| 11 | 6 | Oliver HOLDENER | |
Wolf-Power Racing | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:06.471 | 1.473 |
| 12 | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER | |
Niedertscheider Motorsport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 2:06.478 | 1.480 |
| 13 | 47 | Niko KANKKUNEN | |
Team Engstler Europe | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 8 | 2:06.606 | 1.608 |
| 14 | 27 | Theo COICAUD |  |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 2:06.762 | 1.764 |
| 15 | 77 | Justin HÄUßERMANN | |
Team Engstler Germany | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 2:06.779 | 1.781 |
| 16 | 54 | Simon REICHER | |
YACO Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 2:06.783 | 1.785 |
| 17 | 88 | Dominik FUGEL | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 9 | 2:06.830 | 1.832 |
| 18 | 3 | Kai JORDAN | |
Team Engstler Germany | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 2:06.867 | 1.869 |
| 19 | 39 | Florian THOMA | |
Team Engstler Europe | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 2:07.066 | 2.068 |
| 20 | 60 | Loris PRATTES | |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:07.290 | 2.292 |
| 21 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi-Car Team Halder | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:07.954 | 2.956 |
| 22 | 17 | Jasmin PREISIG | |
Steibel Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 10 | 2:08.372 | 3.374 |
| 23 | 34 | Julien APOTHÉLOZ | |
Young Driver Challenge | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:08.581 | 3.583 |
| 24 | 55 | Marcel FUGEL | |
Profi-Car Team Halder | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 10 | 2:09.025 | 4.027 |
| 25 | 23 | Sebastian STEIBEL | |
Steibel Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 2:10.108 | 5.110 |
| 26 | 9 | Daniel DAVIDOVAC | |
HP Racing International 2 | Opel Astra TCR | 11 | 2:10.466 | 5.468 |
| 27 | 33 | JC REYNOLDS |  |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 2:12.775 | 7.777 |
| 28 | 99 | Maurits SANDBERG | |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 1 | No time | N/A |