Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk claimed pole position in qualifying for the FIA TCR World Tour on the streets of Macau, in a session featuring four red flag stoppages.
The first part of qualifying began on a wet circuit after rain arrived as the session was getting underway, with drivers venturing out on wet rubber to begin with.
Drivers had only just posted their first flying lap of the session, with Mikel Azcona setting the early benchmark with a lap of 2 minutes 50.335 seconds, when the first red flag stoppage was called for, as a result of Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia stopping down the escape road on the mountain section with a technical issue.
After a delay of around seven minutes, the action resumed, with 13 minutes of the session remaining. Track conditions were now drying, and several drivers, including Björk and GOAT racing duo Esteban Guerrieri and Dušan Borković made the decision to switch to slick tyres.
Whilst Azcona went quickest in the meantime with a lap of 2:41.705, those on the slick tyres were proving that was the way to go. With just over nine minutes to go, Néstor Girolami put his Hyundai at the top with a 2:38.221, before the red flags flew again when Lo Sze Ho spun at the Melco hairpin and blocked the circuit.
After another delay, the session resumed with eight minutes left and the field on slick rubber. A flurry of improvements this resulted, effectively the only shot at posting a meaningful dry time, before another red flag brought the Q1 session to an early conclusion when Wu Yi Fan crashed his Audi on the run up San Francisco hill.
Ma Qing Hua had meanwhile put his Lynk & Co quickest with a lap of 2:31.733, a tenth ahead of Cyan Racing team-mate Yann Ehrlacher.
Whilst all of the TCR World Tour regulars except for John Filippi (18th) made it into Q2, perhaps the highest profile driver not to get through was his Volcano Motorsport team-mate Rob Huff, a TCR World Tour wildcard.
Huff bemoaned the weaving and slow out laps of the TCR World Tour drivers ahead of him, with his sole lap in the dry being over six seconds off the pace and leaving the Brit to start from 15th for both races.
In Q2 drivers had yet to post a lap time when GOAT Racing’s Marco Butti crashed heavily at the Solitutde Esses, resulting in the fourth red flag of qualifying.
Butti hit the barriers on the outside of the bend, ripping the front-right wheel off his Honda, with team-mates Guerrieri and Borković only just squeezing through.
By the time the session resumed, there was just enough time for drivers to complete three flying laps, although the majority of the field set their best time on their second run.
Björk edged out Azcona with the best lap of 2:29.816 to claim his first touring car pole in Macau, with the Hyundai of Azcona just 0.023 seconds behind.
Ehrlacher was third fastest, having followed Björk, ahead of the second BRC Racing Hyundai of Norbert Michelisz in fourth.
Girolami was fifth, 1.3 seconds off the pace, ahead of fellow Argentine Guerrieri in sixth.
Borković put his Honda in seventh behind his team-mate, ahead of the fourth Lynk & Co of Ma Qing Hua in eighth.
Hyundai’s Martin Cao was the best of the TCR China field in ninth, with a late improvement from Andy Yan Cheuk Wai seeing him completed the top ten in his Hyundai and claim the reverse-grid pole position for Sunday’s second race.
David Zhu was 11th, whilst Butti didn’t post a lap time due to his crash. Just missing out on Q2 and thus starting 13th and 14th respectively for both races were TCR China’s Jason Zhang Zhi Qiang and TCR Asia’s Zhang Zhen Dong.
Race one, which acts as the ‘qualifying race’ for the Guia race, takes place on Saturday at 12:35 local time (04:35 GMT, 05:35 CET), followed by race two on Sunday.
Whilst only Sunday’s race counts as the Guia race, both races award equal points in the FIA TCR World Tour.
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 7 | 2:29.816 | – |
| 2 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | 2:29.839 | 0.023 |
| 3 | 168 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 7 | 2:29.934 | 0.118 |
| 4 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | 2:30.568 | 0.752 |
| 5 | 129 |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | 2:31.173 | 1.357 |
| 6 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 6 | 2:31.455 | 1.639 |
| 7 | 62 |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 6 | 2:32.791 | 2.975 |
| 8 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 6 | 2:33.663 | 3.847 |
| 9 | 1 | |
Martin CAO Hongwei | Hyundai N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | 2:34.333 | 4.517 |
| 10 | 3 |  |
Andy YAN Cheuk Wai | Hyundai N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 2 | 2:35.191 | 5.375 |
| 11 | 9 | |
David ZHU Dai Wei | Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 6 | 2:35.478 | 5.662 |
| 12 | 199 |  |
Marco BUTTI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 1 | No time | N/A |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 155 | |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 11 | 2:31.733 | – |
| 2 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 11 | 2:31.852 | 0.119 |
| 3 | 111 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 11 | 2:32.367 | 0.634 |
| 4 | 199 | |
Marco BUTTI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 10 | 2:32.519 | 0.786 |
| 5 | 196 | |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 2:32.545 | 0.812 |
| 6 | 62 | |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 2:33.052 | 1.319 |
| 7 | 105 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 2:33.455 | 1.722 |
| 8 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 2:33.567 | 1.834 |
| 9 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 2:35.144 | 3.411 |
| 10 | 1 | |
Martin CAO Hongwei | Hyundai N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 2:36.117 | 4.384 |
| 11 | 9 | |
David ZHU Dai Wei | Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 10 | 2:36.415 | 4.682 |
| 12 | 3 | |
Andy YAN Cheuk Wai | Hyundai N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 2:36.499 | 4.766 |
| 13 | 36 | |
Jason ZHANG Zhi Qiang | Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 10 | 2:36.690 | 4.957 |
| 14 | 18 | |
ZHANG Zhen Dong | Hyundai N by Z.Speed | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 2:36.928 | 5.195 |
| 15 | 179 |  |
Rob HUFF | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | 2:38.091 | 6.358 |
| 16 | 69 |  |
Max HART | Hyundai N by Z.Speed | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 2:38.533 | 6.800 |
| 17 | 55 | |
Martin XIE Xin Zhe | MacPro Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 10 | 2:38.777 | 7.044 |
| 18 | 127 | |
John FILIPPI | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | 2:39.286 | 7.553 |
| 19 | 2 | |
Rainey HE Xiaole | Hyundai N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 2:41.137 | 9.404 |
| 20 | 12 | |
Sunny WONG Yat Shing | Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 2:41.202 | 9.469 |
| 21 | 72 | |
Juan Carlos ZHU | Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 9 | 2:41.956 | 10.223 |
| 22 | 52 | |
LAI Jing Wen | 326 Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 7 | 2:42.882 | 11.149 |
| 23 | 14 |  |
HWANG Doyun | Hyundai N by Z.Speed | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 2:43.061 | 11.328 |
| 24 | 66 | |
LI Guang Hua | 326 Racing Team | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 9 | 2:44.460 | 12.727 |
| 25 | 11 | |
Gary KWOK | MacPro Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 2:44.951 | 13.218 |
| 26 | 95 | |
HU Heng | GYT Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 2:45.875 | 14.142 |
| 27 | 51 | |
WU Yifan | 326 Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | 2:49.094 | 17.361 |
| 28 | 28 | |
LO Sze Ho | Evolve Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | 2:49.916 | 18.183 |
| 29 | 56 |  |
Benny SANTOSO | Hyundai N by Z.Speed | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 2:51.571 | 19.838 |
| 30 | 82 | |
Dypo FITRAMADHAN | Delta Garage Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 2:53.348 | 21.615 |
| 31 | 87 | |
MAN Siu Ming | Evolve Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 6 | 3:01.228 | 29.495 |
| 32 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 2 | No time | N/A |