Néstor Girolami kept Honda at the top of the times in qualifying for the first FIA World Touring Car Cup race at the Hungaroring, displacing the Lynk & Co of Yvan Muller in the final minutes of the session.
The Argentine driver’s time of 1 minute 52.586 seconds was the fastest of the weekend so far, putting the Münnich Motorsport driver 0.171 seconds ahead of Cyan Racing’s Muller and ensuring that the Argentine racers are still unbeaten in the weekend to-date.
Esteban Guerrieri, who had been quickest in second practice, put in a late improvement to go third in his Münnich Honda, albeit three-tenths slower than his team-mate.
Comtoyou Racing’s Aurélien Panis continued to impress by posting the fourth fastest lap in his CUPRA, ahead of the Cyan Racing duo Yann Ehrlacher and Thed Björk in fifth and sixth respectively.
Johan Kristoffersson once again put in a standout performance for Volkswagen, being the only Golf GTi driver to crack the top ten by posting the seventh best time.
Audi driver Jean-Karl Vernay was eighth fastest, whilst BRC Racing’s Augusto Farfus and Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch completed the top ten. Farfus was one of many drivers to have lap times disallowed for exceeding track limits at Turn 11, putting in a lap late in the session.
PWR Racing’s Daniel Haglöf was 11th, putting in a strong lap late in the session, ahead of SLR’s Mehdi Bennani in 12th.
The session’s early pace had been set by the BRC Racing Hyundai of Gabriele Tarquini, but the Italian’s time of 1 minute 53.298 seconds, set after nine minutes, meant he was just 14th despite having been top at the time.
Tarquini will line-up behind team-mate Norbert Michelisz, who was 13th fastest on home soil.
Amongst the raft of drivers who had their lap times disallowed for track limits infringements, BRC’s Nicky Catsburg suffered the most, losing his best lap and leaving him in 20th on the grid for the first race of the weekend.
Race one gets underway at 15:15 CEST (14:15 BST).
Qualifying result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 1:52.586 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 100 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 1:52.757 | 0.171 | |
| 3 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 1:52.893 | 0.307 | |
| 4 | 21 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing | CUPRA TCR | 1:52.955 | 0.369 | |
| 5 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 1:53.042 | 0.456 | |
| 6 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 1:53.065 | 0.479 | |
| 7 | 14 | Johan KRISTOFFERSSON | |
SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 1:53.158 | 0.572 | |
| 8 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 1:53.217 | 0.631 | |
| 9 | 8 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 1:53.267 | 0.681 | |
| 10 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH |  |
Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 1:53.274 | 0.688 | |
| 11 | 37 | Daniel HAGLÖF | |
PWR Racing | CUPRA TCR | 1:53.286 | 0.700 | |
| 12 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 1:53.289 | 0.703 | |
| 13 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 1:53.290 | 0.704 | |
| 14 | 1 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 1:53.298 | 0.712 | |
| 15 | 111 | Andy PRIAULX |  |
Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 1:53.397 | 0.811 | |
| 16 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
PWR Racing | CUPRA TCR | 1:53.486 | 0.900 | |
| 17 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 1:53.496 | 0.910 | |
| 18 | 9 | Attila TASSI | |
KCMG | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 1:53.548 | 0.962 | |
| 19 | 31 | Kevin CECCON | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 1:53.659 | 1.073 | |
| 20 | 88 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 1:53.690 | 1.104 | |
| 21 | 55 | Ma QING HUA |  |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 1:53.780 | 1.194 | |
| 22 | 10 | Niels LANGEVELD | |
Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 1:53.845 | 1.259 | |
| 23 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
KCMG | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 1:53.903 | 1.317 | |
| 24 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 1:54.048 | 1.462 | |
| 25 | 33 | Benjamin LEUCHTER |  |
SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 1:54.078 | 1.492 | |
| 26 | 50 | Tom CORONEL | |
Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing | CUPRA TCR | 1:54.213 | 1.627 | |
| 27 | 23 | Támas TENKE | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 1:57.067 | 4.481 |