BRC Racing Team’s Luca Filippi secured a maiden TCR Europe pole position at the Red Bull Ring, heading a Hyundai 1-2-3 with Josh Files just half a tenth behind and Nelson Panciatici in third.
The single-seater veteran displayed strong pace in both practice sessions at the Spielberg circuit yesterday, and led the majority of Q1 before fellow Hyundai runner Files pipped him at the flag.
In Q2, Filippi’s first flying lap was good enough for pole position, with his 1:36.128 putting him just 0.051 ahead of Files, while Panciatici was over three tenths adrift.
An impressive performance from Davit Kajaia meant he placed fourth in this PCR Sport CUPRA, while practice pacesetter Dan Lloyd could only manage fifth, 0.445s adrift of Filippi’s benchmark.
Team WRT’s Maxime Potty claimed the bragging rights of the VW runners in sixth, while Luca Engstler could only manage seventh after his initial time was deleted for exceeding track limits at turn nine.
Alex Morgan continued his strong form in eighth position, enjoying better pace after the Wolf-Power Racing outfit switched to the CUPRA after previously running the Renault Mégane RS.
Next was Gianni Morbidelli in the WestCoast Racing Volkswagen, while Tom Coronel completed the top ten in his Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic Type R FK7.
Gilles Magnus, who currently sits second in the championship standings, was the only Audi entry to make it through to Q2.
His effort go 11th was over a second off the overall pace, while Mat’o Homola rounded out the Q2 runners in 12th.
Notably, none of the Peugeot entrants progressed to Q2, with championship leader Julien Briché amongst others who are clearly struggling with the maximum 60kg of compensation weight added to the French machinery this weekend.
The opening TCR Europe race of the weekend in Austria is set to get underway at 13:30 CEST [12:30 BST].
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 1:36.128 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 9 | Josh FILES |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | 1:36.179 | 0.051 |
| 3 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI |  |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 1:36.474 | 0.346 |
| 4 | 3 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
PCR Sport with Georgia | CUPRA TCR | 7 | 1:36.508 | 0.380 |
| 5 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 7 | 1:36.573 | 0.445 |
| 6 | 88 | Maxime POTTY |  |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 6 | 1:36.666 | 0.538 |
| 7 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 1:36.842 | 0.714 |
| 8 | 5 | Alex MORGAN | |
Wolf-Power Racing | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 7 | 1:36.951 | 0.823 |
| 9 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 7 | 1:37.035 | 0.907 |
| 10 | 50 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 6 | 1:37.093 | 0.965 |
| 11 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 6 | 1:37.222 | 1.094 |
| 12 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 1:37.451 | 1.323 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 9 | Josh FILES | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:36.233 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:36.575 | 0.342 |
| 3 | 50 | Tom CORONEL | |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 12 | 1:36.617 | 0.384 |
| 4 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 1:36.739 | 0.506 |
| 5 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 11 | 1:36.779 | 0.546 |
| 6 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:36.853 | 0.620 |
| 7 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:36.861 | 0.628 |
| 8 | 3 | Davit KAJAIA | |
PCR Sport with Georgia | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 1:36.898 | 0.665 |
| 9 | 5 | Alex MORGAN | |
Wolf-Power Racing | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 11 | 1:36.971 | 0.738 |
| 10 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:37.003 | 0.770 |
| 11 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:37.004 | 0.771 |
| 12 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:37.179 | 0.946 |
| 13 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:37.267 | 1.034 |
| 14 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:37.284 | 1.051 |
| 15 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:37.374 | 1.141 |
| 16 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 11 | 1:37.396 | 1.163 |
| 17 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:37.414 | 1.181 |
| 18 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 1:37.437 | 1.204 |
| 19 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 1:37.477 | 1.244 |
| 20 | 23 | Tamás TENKE | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 1:37.478 | 1.245 |
| 21 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 1:37.481 | 1.248 |
| 22 | 25 | Natan BIHEL | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 1:37.818 | 1.585 |
| 23 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:37.929 | 1.696 |
| 24 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 1:37.980 | 1.747 |
| 25 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 1:38.002 | 1.769 |
| 26 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 11 | 1:38.073 | 1.840 |
| 27 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 11 | 1:38.282 | 2.049 |
| 28 | 46 | Olli KANGAS |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 7 | 1:38.295 | 2.062 |
| 29 | 66 | Gilles COLOMBANI | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 1:40.350 | 4.117 |