Luca Engstler secured pole position for the second round of the TCR Asia series at the Zhuhai International Circuit in China, beating team-mate Diego Moran by almost two tenths of a second.
The second event of the year was switched to Zhuhai at the last minute, having originally been planned to take place in South Korea, with the series joining the ranks of the TCR China series for a combined race weekend.
Engstler, who had previously taken pole position for the season opener in Sepang last time out, once again had the pace to better his TCR Asia rivals, beating Moran, who had switched to Hyundai machinery for this weekend, to claim a second successive pole.
The TCR Asia field is sharing the grid with TCR China this weekend, and it was Dongfeng Honda Racing’s Daniel Lloyd who qualified in third, the Brit just three tenths off the pace in his first race weekend in TCR China.
TCR Asia regular Filipe Clemente de Souza was fourth, four tenths off the pace in his Audi, ahead of Philippines racer Daniel Miranda in fifth in the Eurasia Motorsport Hyundai.
Solite Indigo Racing’s Pepe Oriola was sixth, the last driver to be within a second of the pace in Q2.
Engstler Motorsport’s leading Volkswagen driver was Malaysian Adam Khalid in seventh, ahead of Teamwork Motorsport’s Alex Hui in eighth.
The top ten was completed by Engstler Motorsport’s Roland Hertner and the TCR China Audi of NewFaster Racing’s Kenneth Look, giving the latter pole position for the reverse-grid second race.