Jean-Karl Vernay took outright pole position for the third World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) race at Motorland Aragón, and all of a sudden finds himself right in the midst of the championship battle.
As ever, the series’ three-phase system was in use during qualifying, with phase one deciding the grid for the first race of the weekend.
At the end of the twenty-minute segment, Norbert Michelisz emerged as the surprise pace-setter following a rather underwhelming showing in practice. Pole position for race one was therefore secured, but it wasn’t all plain sailing for the Hungarian whose Hyundai appeared to suffer from overheating issues in the latter stages.
Next up, the king of practice Gilles Magnus could only manage second-best on this particular occasion, ahead of Vernay in third.
Michelisz’s Hyundai team-mate Gabriele Tarquini will line up from fourth position on the grid in race one, with the top five being rounded out by Thed Björk.
However, the main stories from Q1 would come from outside the top twelve. Championship leader Yann Ehrlacher had a torrid session with potential driveshaft issues, leaving him unable to do any better than eighteenth.
With the Frenchman therefore cast to the latter rows of the grid for all three races tomorrow, it was a golden opportunity for title rival Esteban Guerrieri to capitalise.
Unfortunately for the Argentine, he could do no better, and will consequently start all three races from nineteenth.
Both wildcards, Nicolas Baert and Josh Files were also knocked out in the first phase of qualifying in fifteenth and sixteenth respectively, just ahead of Tom Coronel.
After a twenty-five-minute delay, the top twelve cars then returned to the circuit for phase two of qualifying, but only five would progress to the final shoot-out for race three pole.
The first to miss out was Yvan Muller, who was just a tenth of a second away from that all-important fifth place.
Tarquini and Néstor Girolami will line up on the fourth row of the grid in seventh and eighth positions respectively in race three, ahead of Mikel Azcona and Bence Boldizs in ninth and tenth.
However, with the reversed grid rules coming into play, Azcona and Boldizs will lock out the front row of the starting grid in race two, with Boldizs on pole.
Michelisz, meanwhile, failed to put a lap together in Q2, meaning that the race one pole-sitter will start races two and three from twelfth.
So, it was on to the one-lap shoot-out, and first up to set their benchmark time was Vernay. 2 minutes 6.367 seconds was slower than the best times we had seen earlier in the day, and it looked as though it wouldn’t be enough for pole.
The next driver up, Santiago Urrutia, had been on target to dethrone him, but a brake lock-up at the penultimate bend ended the Uruguayan’s chances.
Berthon was the third driver to take to the circuit, but before he could even complete a full lap, the Frenchman’s Audi succumbed to a technical failure.
So, with two more contenders left, it was now up to either Björk or Magnus to topple the Alfa Romeo driver.
Björk didn’t quite have the pace when it mattered most however, and although he was able to snatch second place from Urrutia, Vernay remained on top.
In fact, Vernay would remain on top until the chequered flag fell, as a slight error in sector three meant that Magnus would slot in between him and Björk on the time sheets.
For the first time since 2018, Vernay has an outright pole position to his name and finds himself third in the championship. With Ehrlacher and Guerrieri a long way down the starting order, the Frenchman could be a surprise title contender by the end of the weekend.
Q3 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR | 3 | 2:06.367 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 3 | 2:06.600 | 0.233 |
| 3 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 2:06.805 | 0.438 |
| 4 | 12 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 2:07.152 | 0.785 |
| 5 | 17 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 3 | No time | N/A |
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 3 | 2:06.010 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 12 | Santiago URRUTIA | |
Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 2:06.012 | 0.002 |
| 3 | 17 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 4 | 2:06.453 | 0.443 |
| 4 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR | 4 | 2:06.547 | 0.537 |
| 5 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK | |
Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 2:06.590 | 0.580 |
| 6 | 100 | Yvan MULLER | |
Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 4 | 2:06.616 | 0.606 |
| 7 | 30 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 2:06.622 | 0.612 |
| 8 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 4 | 2:07.139 | 1.129 |
| 9 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 5 | 2:08.051 | 2.041 |
| 10 | 55 | Bence BOLDIZS |  |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 3 | No time | N/A |
| 11 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | No time | N/A |
| 12 | 1 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | No time | N/A |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 2:05.838 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 6 | 2:05.923 | 0.085 |
| 3 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR | 7 | 2:06.038 | 0.200 |
| 4 | 30 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | 2:06.131 | 0.293 |
| 5 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK | |
Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 7 | 2:06.424 | 0.586 |
| 6 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 8 | 2:06.555 | 0.717 |
| 7 | 17 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 7 | 2:06.579 | 0.741 |
| 8 | 12 | Santiago URRUTIA | |
Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 7 | 2:06.641 | 0.803 |
| 9 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | 2:06.821 | 0.983 |
| 10 | 55 | Bence BOLDIZS | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 8 | 2:06.829 | 0.991 |
| 11 | 100 | Yvan MULLER | |
Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 2:06.910 | 1.072 |
| 12 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 7 | 2:07.009 | 1.171 |
| 13 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 7 | 2:07.273 | 1.435 |
| 14 | 34 | Aurélien COMTE | |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 8 | 2:07.314 | 1.476 |
| 15 | 15 | Nicolas BAERT | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 7 | 2:07.470 | 1.632 |
| 16 | 40 | Josh FILES |  |
Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 2:07.476 | 1.638 |
| 17 | 31 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 7 | 2:07.723 | 1.885 |
| 18 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 2:07.806 | 1.968 |
| 19 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 7 | 2:07.827 | 1.989 |
| 20 | 9 | Attila TASSI | |
ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 7 | 2:08.458 | 2.620 |
| 21 | 99 | Gábor KISMARTY-LECHNER | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 8 | 2:09.060 | 3.222 |