Nicky Catsburg leads Hyundai 1-2 in first Slovakiaring qualifying

Nicky Catsburg secured pole position for Sunday’s first FIA World Touring Car Cup race at the Slovakiaring, after beating BRC Racing team-mate Norbert Michelisz to lead a Hyundai 1-2.

Catsburg hit the top of the times with just five minutes remaining whilst the Dutchman was providing a tow to Michelisz, edging out the Hungarian’s time by just 0.028 seconds.

Michelisz failed to improve despite the slipstream and had to settle for second, as Hyundai locked out the top two places in their now 30 kg lighter i30 N, with the compensation weight coming into effect for the first time this year.

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Ma was an impressive third fastest in the Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo, the Chinese driver being four tenths from pole.

PWR Racing’s Daniel Haglöf was the best CUPRA driver in fourth, at a circuit where the Spanish cars have been performing well on single-lap pace. Tom Coronel was able to put his Comtoyou Racing CUPRA in fifth, easily the Dutchman’s best qualifying performance of the season.

Kevin Ceccon ensured that it was a strong session for Team Mulsanne by putting his Alfa Romeo Giulietta in sixth, eight tenths off the pace.

WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay was the leading Audi driver in seventh, ahead of the leading Honda of Esteban Guerrieri in eighth.

Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch and SLR’s Mehdi Bennani completed the top ten, the latter comfortably the fastest Volkswagen driver after improving within the final minute of the session.

Points leader Néstor Girolami just missed out on the top ten and was 11^th in his Münnich Motorsport Honda, the last driver within a second of the pace in a qualifying session which was dry but threatened rain.

Reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini was just 13^th, despite a tow from team-mate Michelisz at a circuit where the Italian has traditionally performed well.

None of the Lynk & Co drivers made the top 15, with Yvan Muller in 18^th the best-placed driver for the Swedish-run team’s Chinese car brand.

His team-mates Thed Björk, Yann Ehrlacher and Andy Priaulx propped up the timesheets in 25^th, 26^th and 27^th respectively, around two seconds off the pace.

Wildcard newcomer Luca Engstler was 20^th in the slowest of the Hyundais, only a tenth behind BRC Racing’s Augusto Farfus in 19^th despite carrying 20 kg more weight than the Brazilian.

Qualifying for Sunday’s second and third races gets underway at 16:40 CEST (15:40 BST) later on Friday.

Qualifying result

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	88	Nicky CATSBURG		BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	9	2:09.498	0.000
2	5	Norbert MICHELISZ		BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai i30 N TCR	10	2:09.526	0.028
3	55	Ma QING HUA		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	10	2:09.907	0.409
4	37	Daniel HAGLÖF		PWR Racing	CUPRA TCR	9	2:10.108	0.610
5	50	Tom CORONEL		Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing	CUPRA TCR	10	2:10.154	0.656
6	31	Kevin CECCON		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	11	2:10.339	0.841
7	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	11	2:10.374	0.876
8	86	Esteban GUERRIERI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	10	2:10.382	0.884
9	22	Frédéric VERVISCH		Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	10	2:10.403	0.905
10	25	Mehdi BENNANI		SLR VW Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	11	2:10.430	0.932
11	29	Néstor GIROLAMI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	10	2:10.495	0.997
12	21	Aurélien PANIS		Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing	CUPRA TCR	9	2:10.511	1.013
13	1	Gabriele TARQUINI		BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai i30 N TCR	9	2:10.517	1.019
14	96	Mikel AZCONA		PWR Racing	CUPRA TCR	10	2:10.544	1.046
15	33	Benjamin LEUCHTER		SLR Volkswagen	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	10	2:10.687	1.189
16	10	Niels LANGEVELD		Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	9	2:10.746	1.248
17	52	Gordon SHEDDEN		Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	11	2:10.826	1.328
18	100	Yvan MULLER		Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	7	2:10.944	1.446
19	8	Augusto FARFUS		BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	10	2:10.978	1.480
20	6	Luca ENGSTLER		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	11	2:11.005	1.507
21	18	Tiago MONTEIRO		KCMG	Honda Civic Type R TCR	10	2:11.081	1.583
22	14	Johan KRISTOFFERSSON		SLR Volkswagen	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	10	2:11.212	1.714
23	9	Attila TASSI		KCMG	Honda Civic Type R TCR	10	2:11.307	1.809
24	12	Rob HUFF		SLR VW Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	9	2:11.345	1.847
25	11	Thed BJÖRK		Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	8	2:11.363	1.865
26	68	Yann EHRLACHER		Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	8	2:11.467	1.969
27	111	Andy PRIAULX		Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	8	2:11.697	2.199