Jean-Karl Vernay scored his first outright pole position of the year in qualifying for the TCR International Series on the streets of Singapore, with the Leopard Racing driver continuing his practice pace.
Vernay was just over half a second faster than WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli around the Marina Bay Street Circuit, with the Leopard Racing driver continuing to show the strong pace that he had demonstrated in Friday’s sole practice session.
B3 Racing’s Mat’o Homola took third on the grid for the first race, ahead of the second Leopard Volkswagen Golf of Stefano Comini in fourth.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pepe Oriola was fifth fastest and the last driver within a second of the pace, with the Spaniard crucially closing the championship gap to team-mate James Nash by a single point in the process.
Dušan Borković was sixth fastest in the second of the B3 Racing SEATs, ahead of current championship leader Nash in seventh, with both drivers tackling the Singapore street circuit for the first time this weekend. Attila Tassi made sure all three B3 cars were inside the top ten by qualifying in eighth.
Craft-Bamboo’s Sergey Afanasyev and WestCoast Racing’s Kevin Gleason completed the top ten, with the duo starting from the front row for Sunday’s reverse-grid race as a result.
Mikhail Grachev, who has already been on the reverse-grid front row on two occasions this year, just missed out on the reverse grid and qualified in 11th, just ahead of Mulsanne Racing’s sole Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Petr Fulín in 12th.
Jordi Oriola qualified the returning Opel Astra in 13th position, whilst Davit Kajaia was the leading driver for Liqui Moly Team Engstler in 14th.
Martin Cao put the redeveloped Ford Focus TCR in 17th on the grid for both races, in what is car’s first weekend in the TCR International Series for FRD Motorsports.
Race one takes place at 19:25 local time (12:25 BST, 13:25 CEST) and will run for ten laps or 25 minutes.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 8 | 2:24.511 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 9 | 2:25.016 | 0.505 |
| 3 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 8 | 2:25.019 | 0.508 |
| 4 | 1 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | 2:25.115 | 0.604 |
| 5 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 8 | 2:25.436 | 0.925 |
| 6 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 2:25.629 | 1.118 |
| 7 | 54 | James NASH |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 2:25.899 | 1.388 |
| 8 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 8 | 2:26.033 | 1.522 |
| 9 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 2:26.059 | 1.548 |
| 10 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 9 | 2:26.450 | 1.939 |
| 11 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 9 | 2:26.594 | 2.083 |
| 12 | 22 | Petr FULÍN |  |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 9 | 2:27.117 | 2.606 |
| 13 | 33 | Jordi ORIOLA | |
Kissling Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 9 | 2:27.863 | 3.352 |
| 14 | 7 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 10 | 2:27.980 | 3.469 |
| 15 | 35 | Rafaël GALIANA | |
Target Competition | Honda Civic TCR | 9 | 2:28.326 | 3.815 |
| 16 | 68 | Filipe Clemente DE SOUZA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | 2:29.040 | 4.529 |
| 17 | 99 | Martin CAO Hongwei |  |
FRD Racing Team | Ford Focus TCR | 8 | 2:29.997 | 5.486 |
| 18 | 64 | Neric WEI Chaoyin | |
Son Veng Racing Team | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | 2:33.305 | 8.794 |
| 19 | 65 | Douglas KHOO Kok Hui |  |
Viper Niza Racing | SEAT León Cup Racer | 9 | 2:35.461 | 10.950 |
| 20 | 50 | Loris HEZEMANS |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Cup Racer | 1 | No time | N/A |