Jean-Karl Vernay stormed to his second pole position of the season in qualifying for the TCR Europe series at Monza, putting his Audi at the front ahead of championship challenger Mikel Azcona, who took the series lead in the process.
Leopard Lukoil’s Vernay had earlier been quickest in the first Q1 segment, cementing the strong pace which he had shown in Friday’s practice sessions when he topped FP1, only to be pipped in FP2.
The Frenchman was on dominant form in his Audi RS3 in qualifying, being at the top of the times for much of the two qualifying segments, ending up with an advantage of three tenths over Azcona.
Spaniard Azcona, like most of the Q2 runners, had set his best time on his initial Q2 run, putting his PCR Sport CUPRA on the front row of the grid for Saturday’s first race.
KCMG Honda duo Attila Tassi and Josh Files were third and fourth respectively, the only other drivers to be within a second of the pace, with Tassi seeking to keep his title hopes alive in Italy this weekend.
Comtoyou Racing’s Maxime Potty put his Volkswagen Golf in fifth, just ahead of the best Hyundai of Target Competition’s Dušan Borković in sixth, with the Serbian driver losing out on the championship lead in the process, as he now sits two points behind Azcona.
Autodis Racing by THX’s Stefano Comini improved significantly on his pace from second practice, where the Swiss had been more than two seconds off the pace, to qualify his Honda in seventh, just ahead of the Reno Racing Civic of Jens Reno Møller in eighth.
Comini’s new team-mate Benjamin Lessennes and Sports & You’s Francisco Abreu completed the top ten, giving the latter Peugeot driver the reverse-grid pole position for Sunday’s second race.
TCR Italy regular and Europe newcomer Salvatore Tavano just missed out on the top ten and put his CUPRA in 11th, ahead of Piro Sport’s Peter Terting in 12th, with the German making his second TCR appearance of the season in one of the team’s Hyundais.
A red-flag stoppage in Q1 with just over four minutes to go, due to an off for the Subaru of Cosimo Barberini, meant there was a late flurry of improvements as drivers returned to the circuit after a four-minute delay.
Baporo Motorsport’s José Manuel Sapag managed to haul his Baporo Motorsport CUPRA into 13th after a last-minute improvement, ahead of the leading M1RA Hyundai of Nicola Baldan in 14th, after the Italian was dumped out of the top 12 when he failed to improve his time.
After showing strong pace amongst the best CUPRA drivers last time at Assen, Norwegian Stian Paulsen will be disappointed to only manage 17th in qualifying as the slowest driver for the Spanish marque.
TCR Europe newcomer Ollie Taylor put his Pyro Motorsport Honda in 20th, just over two seconds off the pace, on his first visit to Monza.
Team Mulsanne’s Fabrizio Giovanardi also failed to show the same pace he had demonstrated in practice on new tyres, qualifying his Alfa Romeo in 21st position for both races.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 17:35 CEST (16:35 BST).
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:57.626 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 25 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 4 | 1:57.936 | 0.310 |
| 3 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
Hell Energy Racing with KCMG | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:58.459 | 0.833 |
| 4 | 99 | Josh FILES |  |
Hell Energy Racing with KCMG | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 3 | 1:58.465 | 0.839 |
| 5 | 88 | Maxime POTTY |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 4 | 1:58.863 | 1.237 |
| 6 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 1:58.902 | 1.276 |
| 7 | 42 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Autodis Racing by THX | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:59.173 | 1.547 |
| 8 | 11 | Jens Reno MØLLER |  |
Reno Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:59.283 | 1.657 |
| 9 | 630 | Benjamin LESSENNES | |
Autodis Racing by THX | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:59.318 | 1.692 |
| 10 | 23 | Francisco ABREU |  |
Sports & You | Peugeot 308 TCR | 4 | 1:59.468 | 1.842 |
| 11 | 44 | Salvatore TAVANO |  |
Scuderia Girasole | CUPRA TCR | 4 | 1:59.626 | 2.000 |
| 12 | 15 | Peter TERTING |  |
Autodis Racing by Piro Sports | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 1:59.628 | 2.002 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:57.820 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 25 | Mikel AZCONA | |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 1:58.257 | 0.437 |
| 3 | 9 | Attila TASSI | |
Hell Energy Racing with KCMG | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 10 | 1:58.777 | 0.957 |
| 4 | 99 | Josh FILES | |
Hell Energy Racing with KCMG | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 9 | 1:58.847 | 1.027 |
| 5 | 44 | Salvatore TAVANO | |
Scuderia Girasole | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 1:58.965 | 1.145 |
| 6 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | |
Comtoyou Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 7 | 1:58.994 | 1.174 |
| 7 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:59.134 | 1.314 |
| 8 | 42 | Stefano COMINI | |
Autodis Racing by THX | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 10 | 1:59.151 | 1.331 |
| 9 | 11 | Jens Reno MØLLER | |
Reno Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 10 | 1:59.182 | 1.362 |
| 10 | 23 | Francisco ABREU | |
Sports & You | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 1:59.306 | 1.486 |
| 11 | 15 | Peter TERTING | |
Autodis Racing by Piro Sports | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:59.388 | 1.568 |
| 12 | 630 | Benjamin LESSENNES | |
Autodis Racing by THX | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 9 | 1:59.398 | 1.578 |
| 13 | 79 | José Manuel SAPAG |  |
Baporo Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 1:59.402 | 1.582 |
| 14 | 16 | Nicola BALDAN | |
M1RA | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:59.431 | 1.611 |
| 15 | 38 | Danny KROES |  |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 1:59.449 | 1.629 |
| 16 | 999 | Dániel NAGY | |
M1RA | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:59.451 | 1.631 |
| 17 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 1:59.511 | 1.691 |
| 18 | 8 | Reece BARR |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | 1:59.623 | 1.803 |
| 19 | 94 | Kris RICHARD | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:59.737 | 1.917 |
| 20 | 32 | Ollie TAYLOR | |
Pyro Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 9 | 2:00.051 | 2.231 |
| 21 | 18 | Fabrizio GIOVANARDI | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 9 | 2:00.093 | 2.273 |
| 22 | 3 | Cosimo BARBERINI | |
Race Republic | Subaru WRX STi TCR | 5 | 2:00.169 | 2.349 |
| 23 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 11 | 2:00.280 | 2.460 |
| 24 | 7 | Igor STEFANOVSKI | |
Stefanovski Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:00.298 | 2.478 |
| 25 | 17 | Martin RYBA |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 2:00.792 | 2.972 |
| 26 | 76 | Daniele CAPPELLARI | |
CRC – Cappellari Reparto Corse | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 2:01.173 | 3.353 |
| 27 | 63 | Giovanni ALTOÈ | |
Pit Lane Competizioni | Audi RS3 LMS TCR DSG | 6 | 2:01.244 | 3.424 |
| 28 | 77 | Roberto RUSSO | |
Race Republic – Top Run Motorsport | Subaru WRX STi TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |