Mike Halder secured the first TCR Germany pole position of the 2018 season at Oschersleben, putting his new Honda Civic Type-R on top of the times ahead of Team Engstler’s Florian Thoma.
With qualifying taking place on a drying track, Halder was able to haul his new Honda to the top of the times, despite being just 11th fastest in Q1.
The 22-year-old is tipped to be one of the drivers to watch this year, after finishing as runner-up in the 2017 season. He ended up over half a second clear of second-placed Thoma, who was the best of the nine Volkswagen drivers.
Benjamin Leuchter ensured a positive début for Max Kruse’s new racing team in third, and the German was the only other driver to be within a second of Halder’s pace.
Harald Proczyk put his Opel Astra in fourth, ahead of Halder’s Honda Sachsen team-mate Dominik Fugel in fifth.
TCR Germany rookie Luke Wankmüller was sixth, ahead of the leading Audi of Simon Reicher in seventh. The Austrian headed up a trio of RS3 drivers, with Racing One’s Niels Langeveld in eighth and LMS Racing’s Antti Buri in ninth.
Reigning TCR Middle East champion Luca Engstler completed the top ten, giving him the reverse-grid pole for race two, whilst 11th placed Petr Fulín and 12th placed Lukas Niedertscheider missed out on the reverse grid and will start both races outside the top ten.
Steibel Motorsport’s Jasmin Preisig showed strong pace in her Opel, but she just missed out on entry into Q2 and will start from 13th.
It proved to be a difficult qualifying session for the new Renault Mégane TCR cars – Wolf-Power Racing’s Alex Morgan was the best in 23rd, whilst neither of the Besagroup cars of Steve Kirsch or Franjo Kovac posted a time and will start last for both races.
The first TCR Germany race of the weekend takes place at 11:55 CEST (10:55 BST) on Saturday.
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 7 | Mike HALDER |  |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 5 | 1:40.468 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 39 | Florian THOMA |  |
Team Engstler Europe | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 6 | 1:41.037 | 0.569 |
| 3 | 10 | Benjamin LEUCHTER | |
Max Kruse Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 1:41.447 | 0.979 |
| 4 | 22 | Harald PROCZYK |  |
HP Racing International | Opel Astra TCR | 5 | 1:42.183 | 1.715 |
| 5 | 88 | Dominik FUGEL | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 3 | 1:42.502 | 2.034 |
| 6 | 11 | Luke WANKMÜLLER | |
HP Racing International | Opel Astra TCR | 6 | 1:42.984 | 2.516 |
| 7 | 54 | Simon REICHER | |
YACO Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:43.494 | 3.026 |
| 8 | 14 | Niels LANGEVELD |  |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:43.931 | 3.463 |
| 9 | 30 | Antti BURI |  |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 4 | 1:44.176 | 3.708 |
| 10 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 1:44.196 | 3.728 |
| 11 | 2 | Petr FULÍN |  |
Fullin Race Academy | CUPRA TCR | 6 | 1:44.317 | 3.849 |
| 12 | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER | |
Niedertscheider Motorsport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 2 | No time | N/A |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 2 | Petr FULÍN | |
Fullin Race Academy | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 1:44.781 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 30 | Antti BURI | |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 1:45.252 | 0.471 |
| 3 | 10 | Benjamin LEUCHTER | |
Max Kruse Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 1:45.721 | 0.940 |
| 4 | 14 | Niels LANGEVELD | |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:45.966 | 1.185 |
| 5 | 54 | Simon REICHER | |
YACO Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 14 | 1:46.050 | 1.269 |
| 6 | 39 | Florian THOMA | |
Team Engstler Europe | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 13 | 1:46.086 | 1.305 |
| 7 | 88 | Dominik FUGEL | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 12 | 1:46.147 | 1.366 |
| 8 | 11 | Luke WANKMÜLLER | |
HP Racing International | Opel Astra TCR | 13 | 1:46.258 | 1.477 |
| 9 | 22 | Harald PROCZYK | |
HP Racing International | Opel Astra TCR | 13 | 1:46.285 | 1.504 |
| 10 | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER | |
Niedertscheider Motorsport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 1:46.333 | 1.552 |
| 11 | 7 | Mike HALDER | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 12 | 1:46.524 | 1.743 |
| 12 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 7 | 1:46.544 | 1.763 |
| 13 | 17 | Jasmin PREISIG | |
Steibel Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 14 | 1:46.669 | 1.888 |
| 14 | 47 | Niko KANKKUNEN | |
Team Engstler Europe | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 1:46.689 | 1.908 |
| 15 | 44 | Sandro KAIBACH | |
Prosport Performance | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 1:46.715 | 1.934 |
| 16 | 3 | Kai JORDAN | |
Team Engstler Germany | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 1:46.745 | 1.964 |
| 17 | 77 | Justin HÄUßERMANN | |
Team Engstler Germany | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 1:46.766 | 1.985 |
| 18 | 6 | Oliver HOLDENER | |
Wolf-Power Racing | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 1:47.055 | 2.274 |
| 19 | 27 | Theo COICAUD |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 13 | 1:47.196 | 2.415 |
| 20 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi-Car Team Halder | CUPRA TCR | 14 | 1:47.651 | 2.870 |
| 21 | 23 | Sebastian STEIBEL | |
Steibel Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 1:47.705 | 2.924 |
| 22 | 19 | Max HESSE | |
Prosport Performance | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 1:47.728 | 2.947 |
| 23 | 5 | Alex MORGAN |  |
Wolf-Power Racing | Renault Mégane TCR | 13 | 1:47.807 | 3.026 |
| 24 | 29 | Jussi KUUSINIEMI | |
Positione Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 12 | 1:48.435 | 3.654 |
| 25 | 60 | Loris PRATTES | |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 14 | 1:48.509 | 3.728 |
| 26 | 55 | Marcel FUGEL | |
Profi-Car Team Halder | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 9 | 1:48.614 | 3.833 |
| 27 | 99 | Maurits SANDBERG | |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:48.972 | 4.191 |
| 28 | 33 | JC REYNOLDS | |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 1:49.123 | 4.342 |
| 29 | 41 | Steve KIRSCH | |
Besagroup Racing Team | Renault Mégane TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |