Nicky Catsburg secured pole position for Sunday’s first FIA World Touring Car Cup race at the Slovakiaring, after beating BRC Racing team-mate Norbert Michelisz to lead a Hyundai 1-2.
Catsburg hit the top of the times with just five minutes remaining whilst the Dutchman was providing a tow to Michelisz, edging out the Hungarian’s time by just 0.028 seconds.
Michelisz failed to improve despite the slipstream and had to settle for second, as Hyundai locked out the top two places in their now 30 kg lighter i30 N, with the compensation weight coming into effect for the first time this year.
Ma was an impressive third fastest in the Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo, the Chinese driver being four tenths from pole.
PWR Racing’s Daniel Haglöf was the best CUPRA driver in fourth, at a circuit where the Spanish cars have been performing well on single-lap pace. Tom Coronel was able to put his Comtoyou Racing CUPRA in fifth, easily the Dutchman’s best qualifying performance of the season.
Kevin Ceccon ensured that it was a strong session for Team Mulsanne by putting his Alfa Romeo Giulietta in sixth, eight tenths off the pace.
WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay was the leading Audi driver in seventh, ahead of the leading Honda of Esteban Guerrieri in eighth.
Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch and SLR’s Mehdi Bennani completed the top ten, the latter comfortably the fastest Volkswagen driver after improving within the final minute of the session.
Points leader Néstor Girolami just missed out on the top ten and was 11th in his Münnich Motorsport Honda, the last driver within a second of the pace in a qualifying session which was dry but threatened rain.
Reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini was just 13th, despite a tow from team-mate Michelisz at a circuit where the Italian has traditionally performed well.
None of the Lynk & Co drivers made the top 15, with Yvan Muller in 18th the best-placed driver for the Swedish-run team’s Chinese car brand.
His team-mates Thed Björk, Yann Ehrlacher and Andy Priaulx propped up the timesheets in 25th, 26th and 27th respectively, around two seconds off the pace.
Wildcard newcomer Luca Engstler was 20th in the slowest of the Hyundais, only a tenth behind BRC Racing’s Augusto Farfus in 19th despite carrying 20 kg more weight than the Brazilian.
Qualifying for Sunday’s second and third races gets underway at 16:40 CEST (15:40 BST) later on Friday.
Qualifying result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 88 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:09.498 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:09.526 | 0.028 |
| 3 | 55 | Ma QING HUA |  |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 10 | 2:09.907 | 0.409 |
| 4 | 37 | Daniel HAGLÖF |  |
PWR Racing | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:10.108 | 0.610 |
| 5 | 50 | Tom CORONEL | |
Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 2:10.154 | 0.656 |
| 6 | 31 | Kevin CECCON |  |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 11 | 2:10.339 | 0.841 |
| 7 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 2:10.374 | 0.876 |
| 8 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 10 | 2:10.382 | 0.884 |
| 9 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH |  |
Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 2:10.403 | 0.905 |
| 10 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 2:10.430 | 0.932 |
| 11 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 10 | 2:10.495 | 0.997 |
| 12 | 21 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:10.511 | 1.013 |
| 13 | 1 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:10.517 | 1.019 |
| 14 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
PWR Racing | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 2:10.544 | 1.046 |
| 15 | 33 | Benjamin LEUCHTER |  |
SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 2:10.687 | 1.189 |
| 16 | 10 | Niels LANGEVELD | |
Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 2:10.746 | 1.248 |
| 17 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN |  |
Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 2:10.826 | 1.328 |
| 18 | 100 | Yvan MULLER | |
Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 7 | 2:10.944 | 1.446 |
| 19 | 8 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:10.978 | 1.480 |
| 20 | 6 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 2:11.005 | 1.507 |
| 21 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
KCMG | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 10 | 2:11.081 | 1.583 |
| 22 | 14 | Johan KRISTOFFERSSON | |
SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 2:11.212 | 1.714 |
| 23 | 9 | Attila TASSI | |
KCMG | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 10 | 2:11.307 | 1.809 |
| 24 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 2:11.345 | 1.847 |
| 25 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK | |
Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 2:11.363 | 1.865 |
| 26 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 2:11.467 | 1.969 |
| 27 | 111 | Andy PRIAULX | |
Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 2:11.697 | 2.199 |