German Luca Engstler claimed pole position for the second TCR Malaysia event of the season in Sepang, the German beating Britain’s Dan Lloyd by just under nine tenths of a second.
In a night-time session at the Sepang International Circuit, Engstler topped both Q1 and Q2, with his time in the latter session being 0.856 seconds faster than series leader Lloyd, and over three seconds faster than his Q1 time.
Behind Lloyd’s Honda, the second Team Engstler Hyundai of Nicolas Gruber was third, the Austrian 1.4 seconds adrift.
Series débutant Josh Files qualified his Solite Indigo Racing Hyundai in fourth, just over a second and a half off the pace on his first visit to the Malaysian circuit.
Malaysian regular Douglas Khoo was fifth quickest, over five seconds adrift, beating Viper Niza Racing team-mate Gilbert Ang, who was sixth after completing just two laps in Q2.
Hong Kong’s Tommy Ku Siu Lam was seventh and slowest of all in both sessions, ending up over 16 seconds adrift in Q2 in his older FK7-spec Honda Civic.
Rounds 3 and 4 take place on Saturday at 11:00 and 14:35 local time (05:00 and 08:35 GMT respectively).
Q2 result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 2:16.409 | |
| 2 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 2:17.265 | 0.856 |
| 3 | 2 | Nicolas GRUBER |  |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 2:17.861 | 1.452 |
| 4 | 99 | Josh FILES | |
Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:17.975 | 1.566 |
| 5 | 65 | Douglas KHOO Kok Hui |  |
Viper Niza Racing | CUPRA TCR | 4 | 2:22.109 | 5.700 |
| 6 | 36 | Gilbert ANG | |
Viper Niza Racing | CUPRA TCR | 2 | 2:30.295 | 13.886 |
| 7 | 8 | Tommy KU Siu Lam |  |
Prince Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 4 | 2:32.574 | 16.165 |
Q1 result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:19.548 | |
| 2 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 7 | 2:19.683 | 0.135 |
| 3 | 99 | Josh FILES | |
Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | 2:20.201 | 0.653 |
| 4 | 36 | Gilbert ANG | |
Viper Niza Racing | CUPRA TCR | 6 | 2:22.108 | 2.560 |
| 5 | 2 | Nicolas GRUBER | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:26.249 | 8.458 |
| 6 | 65 | Douglas KHOO Kok Hui | |
Viper Niza Racing | CUPRA TCR | 6 | 2:28.006 | 8.458 |
| 7 | 8 | Tommy KU Siu Lam | |
Prince Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 6 | 2:32.927 | 13.379 |