Sebastian Steibel claimed his first TCR Germany pole position in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring, with the Volkswagen driver topping both the Q1 and Q2 sessions ahead of the CUPRA of Julien Apothéloz.
Steibel had earlier been just under a tenth quicker than Apothéloz in Q1, and although the German went quicker in Q2 with a lap of 1 minute 37.137 seconds, the TOPCAR Sport driver also went faster, leaving the margin at just 0.060 seconds.
Reigning champion Harald Proczyk was the best of the Hyundai drivers in third, almost two tenths back, ahead of Volkswagen Team Oettinger’s Mitchell Cheah in fourth as the top Golf GTi driver.
Gabriele Tarquini, Team Engstler’s guest driver this weekend, was fifth fastest, 0.286 seconds back, ahead of the best of the regular Engstler Hyundais of Theo Coicaud in sixth.
Antti Buri, victorious last time out in the Czech Republic, put his Audi in seventh, ahead of the fastest Honda of Dominik Fugel in eighth.
Completing the top ten, and gaining the reverse-grid front-row for race two, were Profi-Car Team Halder’s Michelle Halder and Racing One’s René Kircher, with the latter Audi on pole position.
Both Lukas Niedertscheider and Bradley Burns comfortably missed out on the top ten, putting their Hyundai and Honda cars in 11th and 12th respectively.
Two big names failed to even progress beyond Q1, with points leader Mike Halder only managing 14th in Q1, whilst Team Engstler’s Max Hesse, second in the standings, was just 15th – leaving both drivers to start outside the top ten for both races.
Race one gets underway at 17:15 CEST (16:15 BST) on Saturday.
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 23 | Sebastian STEIBEL |  |
Steibel Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 1:37.137 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 22 | Julien APOTHÉLOZ |  |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 4 | 1:37.197 | 0.060 |
| 3 | 1 | Harald PROCZYK |  |
HP Racing International | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 1:37.322 | 0.185 |
| 4 | 29 | Mitchell CHEAH Min Jie |  |
VW Team Oettinger | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 4 | 1:37.364 | 0.227 |
| 5 | 102 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Hyundai Team Engstler 2 | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 1:37.423 | 0.286 |
| 6 | 27 | Theo COICAUD |  |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 1:37.543 | 0.406 |
| 7 | 13 | Antti BURI |  |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:37.624 | 0.487 |
| 8 | 88 | Dominik FUGEL | |
Profi-Car Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 5 | 1:37.783 | 0.646 |
| 9 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi-Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 6 | 1:37.842 | 0.705 |
| 10 | 8 | René KIRCHER | |
racing one | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 6 | 1:38.344 | 1.207 |
| 11 | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER | |
HP Racing International | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 2 | 1:39.250 | 2.113 |
| 12 | 6 | Bradley BURNS |  |
Team Pyro Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 4 | 1:40.030 | 2.893 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 23 | Sebastian STEIBEL | |
Steibel Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 1:37.236 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 22 | Julien APOTHÉLOZ | |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 1:37.316 | 0.080 |
| 3 | 13 | Antti BURI | |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:37.583 | 0.347 |
| 4 | 27 | Theo COICAUD | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:37.689 | 0.453 |
| 5 | 6 | Bradley BURNS | |
Team Pyro Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 7 | 1:37.745 | 0.509 |
| 6 | 1 | Harald PROCZYK | |
HP Racing International | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:37.747 | 0.511 |
| 7 | 102 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
Hyundai Team Engstler 2 | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:37.751 | 0.515 |
| 8 | 8 | René KIRCHER | |
racing one | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:37.789 | 0.553 |
| 9 | 88 | Dominik FUGEL | |
Profi-Car Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 12 | 1:37.790 | 0.554 |
| 10 | 29 | Mitchell CHEAH Min Jie | |
VW Team Oettinger | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 6 | 1:37.898 | 0.662 |
| 11 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi-Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 11 | 1:37.903 | 0.667 |
| 12 | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER | |
HP Racing International | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 1:37.928 | 0.692 |
| 13 | 98 | Jan SEYFFERT | |
Lubner Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 10 | 1:37.965 | 0.729 |
| 14 | 7 | Mike HALDER | |
Profi-Car Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 11 | 1:38.155 | 0.919 |
| 15 | 19 | Max HESSE | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:38.193 | 0.957 |
| 16 | 99 | Maurits SANDBERG |  |
VW Team Oettinger | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:38.289 | 1.053 |
| 17 | 33 | Joshua Corren REYNOLDS |  |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 1:39.727 | 2.491 |