Norbert Michelisz flies to pole on TCR Germany début

Guest star Norbert Michelisz immediately impressed on his début in the ADAC TCR Germany series, taking pole position at the Nürburgring by just 0.017 seconds from fellow Hyundai driver Harald Proczyk.

Michelisz, who had earlier topped first practice, spent much of Q1 in the pits whilst he further refined the set-up on his car, but despite leaving it until the end of Q1 the Hungarian still topped the times with a lap of 1 minute 33.877 seconds – edging out Honda’s Mike Halder by a mere 0.002 seconds.

Michelisz then went almost a tenth quicker in Q2 to claim pole on his first attempt, with Proczyk completing the front row.

Mike Halder was third, just a further thousandth back, ahead of guest driver Andreas Bäckman in fourth in the leading Target Competition Hyundai.

Michelle Halder put her Honda in fifth, ahead of the Hyundai of Antti Buri in sixth.

Jessica Bäckman had been faster than her brother in Q1, but ultimately was three tenths slower than him in Q2, leaving her seventh on the grid, ahead of the Hyundai of Nicolas Gruber in eighth.

Completing the top ten were Honda brothers Marcel Fugel and Dominik Fugel. The top ten qualifying times will be reversed for race two, giving Dominik Fugel pole position for Sunday’s race.

The second HP Racing Hyundai of Jan Seyffert just missed out on Q2 and was thus 11^th, ahead of a quartet of Volkswagen drivers in the order of René Kircher, Harri Salminen, Dziugas Tovilavicius and series newcomer Szymon Ladniak.

Race one is scheduled to get underway at 11:50 CEST on Saturday (10:50 BST).

Q2 results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	105	Norbert MICHELISZ		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	5	1:33.804	0.000
2	2	Harald PROCZYK		HP Racing International	Hyundai i30 N TCR	5	1:33.821	0.017
3	7	Mike HALDER		Profi Car Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	4	1:33.834	0.030
4	19	Andreas BÄCKMAN		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	5	1:33.959	0.155
5	53	Michelle HALDER		Profi Car Team Halder	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	4	1:34.025	0.221
6	13	Antti BURI		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	5	1:34.187	0.383
7	26	Jessica BÄCKMAN		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	6	1:34.234	0.430
8	97	Nicolas GRUBER		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	5	1:34.330	0.526
9	55	Marcel FUGEL		Profi Car Team Halder	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	6	1:34.422	0.618
10	88	Dominik FUGEL		Profi Car Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	5	1:34.886	1.082

Q1 results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	105	Norbert MICHELISZ		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	7	1:33.877	0.000
2	7	Mike HALDER		Profi Car Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	7	1:33.879	0.002
3	2	Harald PROCZYK		HP Racing International	Hyundai i30 N TCR	5	1:34.190	0.313
4	55	Marcel FUGEL		Profi Car Team Halder	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	8	1:34.351	0.474
5	53	Michelle HALDER		Profi Car Team Halder	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	4	1:34.372	0.495
6	97	Nicolas GRUBER		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	7	1:34.378	0.501
7	26	Jessica BÄCKMAN		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	9	1:34.511	0.634
8	13	Antti BURI		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	5	1:34.512	0.635
9	88	Dominik FUGEL		Profi Car Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	8	1:34.539	0.662
10	19	Andreas BÄCKMAN		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	9	1:34.561	0.684
11	98	Jan SEYFFERT		HP Racing International	Hyundai i30 N TCR	9	1:34.584	0.707
12	8	René KIRCHER		Volkswagen Team Oettinger	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	9	1:34.825	0.948
13	51	Harri SALMINEN		Positione Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	13	1:34.983	1.106
14	92	Dziugas TOVILAVICIUS		SKUBA RACING TEAM	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	13	1:35.288	1.411
15	21	Szymon LADNIAK		GT2 Motorsports	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	11	1:37.112	3.235