All four of Münnich Motorsport’s drivers placed within the top five in qualifying for the FIA World Touring Car Cup at Estoril, following an impressive display for the Honda outfit.
After the straight-forward qualifying format used at the Nordschleife, the FIA World Touring Car Cup returned to its standard knockout style of qualifying for the second round this weekend at Estoril.
In the first phase of qualifying, the focus would simply be on getting into the top twelve in order to progress to phase two.
Jean-Karl Vernay was the early pacesetter to begin with, immediately eclipsing the pace we saw in Free Practice Two, with a lap time of 1:44.830. Néstor Girolami and Norbert Michelisz were also quick out of the blocks to go within two hundredths of a second of Vernay’s time in second and third place respectively.
Five minutes later, Attila Tassi threatened to dethrone them all after a purple first sector, however his pace tailed off midway round the lap, so he would instead only climb up to fifth.
It wouldn’t be long before a Honda driver rose to the top of the pile though, as local hero Tiago Monteiro posted a lap time of 1:44.809.
At this point the lap times began to fly in, as Monteiro was then usurped by Michelisz, and fellow Honda stablemate Esteban Guerrieri who then went quickest of all. Tassi also made a late charge to go second fastest.
In fact, Guerrieri, Tassi, Girolami and Monteiro locked out the top four places for Honda, and with that, scored a healthy number of the points that are paid out at this stage of the weekend. Michelisz also picked up a championship point for ending Q1 in fifth.
The real story from the first phase of qualifying would come from further down the order however.
The Volkswagen Group’s season of woe appears to be continuing, as Mikel Azcona became the first driver to be knocked out of qualifying in thirteenth, as the best of the CUPRA contingent. Audi didn’t fair any better, as their top performer Nathanaël Berthon would have to make do with fourteenth, meaning that none of the two marque’s drivers would progress any further.
Onto phase two, and it would be a fifteen minute dash to claim your place within the top five shootout for pole in phase three.
Once again, the four Hondas set the pace with Monteiro coming out on top this time, and Vernay claiming the final spot in the shootout in fifth for Hyundai.
A tenth of a second further back, Michelisz qualified in sixth position, ahead of FP1 pace setter Santiago Urrutia in seventh.
Yvan Muller and Yann Ehrlacher continued the Cyan Racing train in eighth and ninth, while Gabriele Tarquini rounded out the top ten.
As a result, the veteran Italian will start the reversed-grid first race from pole position, with reigning champion Ehrlacher alongside him.
Luca Engstler and Thed Björk, meanwhile, will start both races from eleventh and twelfth on the grid respectively.
With that, all that was left to do was to decide the pole-sitter for Sunday’s feature race.
Vernay was the first driver to take to the track in the one-lap face-off, and laid down a benchmark lap time of 1:44.833, though felt as though he had slightly messed up in the final sector.
However, the next driver in the queue – Guerrieri – made errors of his own, but nevertheless still managed to go three tenths of a second quicker than the Frenchman in the Hyundai.
Tassi was next up, and was slightly down on pace in the first two sectors. A purple sector three elevated him back into the conversation for pole, but too much caution in sector four meant that in the end the Hungarian would place third behind Vernay.
Girolami was the penultimate driver to take part in the shoot-out, and like Tassi, had a slightly underwhelming opening two sectors. As it turned out, he wouldn’t quite be quick enough to dethrone Guerrieri from provisional pole, but the lap was good enough for second place.
With that, only Monteiro remained. The Portuguese ace left himself with time to find in the final couple of sectors though, which again proved to be just about insurmountable.
Guerrieri’s lap time of 1:44.522 would indeed be enough for pole, but Monteiro at least managed to claim the second place on the front row of the grid for his home event.
Girolami and Vernay will line up from row two, while Tassi completes the top five.
Race one gets underway on Sunday at 12:15 local time, with Tarquini and Ehrlacher lining up at the front of the reversed-grid. Guerrieri and Monteiro will then lead the way in the feature race at 15:15.
Q3 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 86 |  |
Esteban GUERRIERI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 1:44.522 | – |
| 2 | 18 |  |
Tiago MONTEIRO | ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 1:44.639 | 0.117 |
| 3 | 29 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 1:44.771 | 0.249 |
| 4 | 69 |  |
Jean-Karl VERNAY | Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 3 | 1:44.833 | 0.311 |
| 5 | 9 |  |
Attila TASSI | ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 1:44.894 | 0.372 |
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 18 | |
Tiago MONTEIRO | ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 4 | 1:44.485 | – |
| 2 | 29 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 4 | 1:44.551 | 0.066 |
| 3 | 9 | |
Attila TASSI | ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 1:44.601 | 0.116 |
| 4 | 86 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 4 | 1:44.666 | 0.181 |
| 5 | 69 | |
Jean-Karl VERNAY | Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:44.699 | 0.214 |
| 6 | 5 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:44.809 | 0.324 |
| 7 | 12 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | 1:44.873 | 0.388 |
| 8 | 100 | |
Yvan MULLER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | 1:44.976 | 0.491 |
| 9 | 68 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 4 | 1:45.057 | 0.572 |
| 10 | 3 |  |
Gabriele TARQUINI | BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:45.098 | 0.613 |
| 11 | 8 |  |
Luca ENGSTLER | Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:45.146 | 0.661 |
| 12 | 11 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | 1:45.387 | 0.902 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 86 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 6 | 1:44.440 | – |
| 2 | 9 | |
Attila TASSI | ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 8 | 1:44.616 | 0.176 |
| 3 | 29 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 8 | 1:44.673 | 0.233 |
| 4 | 18 | |
Tiago MONTEIRO | ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 8 | 1:44.736 | 0.296 |
| 5 | 5 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:44.797 | 0.357 |
| 6 | 69 | |
Jean-Karl VERNAY | Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:44.830 | 0.390 |
| 7 | 68 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 1:45.019 | 0.579 |
| 8 | 12 | |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 9 | 1:45.054 | 0.614 |
| 9 | 100 | |
Yvan MULLER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 1:45.193 | 0.753 |
| 10 | 8 | |
Luca ENGSTLER | Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:45.270 | 0.830 |
| 11 | 3 | |
Gabriele TARQUINI | BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:45.513 | 1.073 |
| 12 | 11 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 1:45.531 | 1.091 |
| 13 | 96 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 9 | 1:45.548 | 1.108 |
| 14 | 17 | |
Nathanaël BERTHON | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:45.613 | 1.173 |
| 15 | 16 |  |
Gilles MAGNUS | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 1:45.688 | 1.248 |
| 16 | 22 | |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 1:45.803 | 1.363 |
| 17 | 79 |  |
Rob HUFF | Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 7 | 1:45.824 | 1.384 |
| 18 | 32 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:45.881 | 1.441 |
| 19 | 19 | |
Andreas BÄCKMAN | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | 1:46.255 | 1.815 |
| 20 | 26 | |
Jessica BÄCKMAN | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:46.295 | 1.855 |
| 21 | 28 | |
Jordi GENÉ | Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 9 | 1:46.426 | 1.986 |
| 22 | 55 | |
Bence BOLDIZS | Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | 1:46.927 | 2.487 |