Luca Engstler claimed his first-ever TCR Germany pole in qualifying at the Sachsenring, as the Engstler Motorsport driver beat HP Racing’s Harald Proczyk to the top time.
Engstler had earlier been the best of the drivers in his Group B qualifying session, as the Volkswagen driver was one of only two drivers to break below the 1 minute 27 seconds lap time mark along with Proczyk.
The two group leaders then went up against each other in Q2, with young German Engstler emerging as the fastest driver.
“I’m only 17 and I’m against the best TCR drivers in the world,” said Engstler. “I’ve given it all. I wanted to show my team the success, and I wanted to show them that we can get involved in the front.
“We have a super squad, who are a lot of fun but always highly professional, and that was the key to success.”
ProSport Performance’s Sheldon van der Linde was the best of the Audi drivers in third, ahead of the leading Honda of ADAC Sachsen’s Moritz Oestreich in fourth.
Alex Morgan put in an impressive effort to secure fifth in Q2 and end up as the leading Brit for Wolf-Power Racing, as his fellow Brit Josh Files could manage just 11th in qualifying.
That means Files, who could wrap up a second consecutive title this weekend, just missed out on the race two reverse grid and the Target Competition driver will start 11th for both of Sunday’s races.
Steve Kirsch, who had earlier been quickest in first practice, but his ADAC Sachsen Honda in sixth, ahead of Mike Halder’s SEAT in seventh.
By qualifying in tenth, Swiss racer Kris Richard secured the race two reverse grid pole, with fellow Target Competition racer Tim Zimmermann alongside after he qualified in ninth.
The grid is slightly smaller for TCR Germany this weekend, with just 33 cars entered for Saturday and Sunday’s races. The first race takes place at 12:00 CEST on Saturday (11:00 BST).
UPDATE – Alex Morgan was later excluded from the qualifying results due to there being insufficient fuel in his car after qualifying to take a sample. As a result, Josh Files moves up to tenth in the qualifying result and will start race two from the reverse grid pole position, with Kris Richard alongside.
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
Junior Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 5 | 1:26.731 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 22 | Harald PROCZYK |  |
HP Racing | SEAT León TCR | 7 | 1:26.875 | 0.144 |
| 3 | 18 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE |  |
AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:26.944 | 0.213 |
| 4 | 88 | Moritz OESTREICH | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 6 | 1:27.135 | 0.404 |
| 5 | 2 | Alex MORGAN |  |
Wolf-Power Racing 2 | SEAT León TCR | 6 | 1:27.139 | 0.408 |
| 6 | 41 | Steve KIRSCH | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 7 | 1:27.316 | 0.585 |
| 7 | 7 | Mike HALDER | |
Wolf-Power Racing 2 | SEAT León TCR | 7 | 1:27.384 | 0.653 |
| 8 | 10 | Antti BURI |  |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:27.423 | 0.692 |
| 9 | 99 | Tim ZIMMERMANN | |
Target Competition GER | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 6 | 1:27.530 | 0.799 |
| 10 | 94 | Kris RICHARD |  |
Target Competition UK-SUI | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 7 | 1:27.580 | 0.849 |
| 11 | 1 | Josh FILES | |
Target Competition UK-SUI | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 7 | 1:27.586 | 0.855 |
| 12 | 28 | Pascal EBERLE | |
Steibel Motorsport | SEAT León TCR | 7 | 1:27.780 | 1.049 |
Qualifying Group A results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 22 | Harald PROCZYK | |
HP Racing | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 1:26.898 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 7 | Mike HALDER | |
Wolf-Power Racing 2 | SEAT León TCR | 5 | 1:27.204 | 0.306 |
| 3 | 1 | Josh FILES | |
Target Competition UK-SUI | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 11 | 1:27.308 | 0.410 |
| 4 | 99 | Tim ZIMMERMANN | |
Target Competition GER | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:27.368 | 0.470 |
| 5 | 41 | Steve KIRSCH | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 8 | 1:27.426 | 0.528 |
| 6 | 2 | Alex MORGAN | |
Wolf-Power Racing 2 | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 1:27.581 | 0.683 |
| 7 | 44 | Sandro KAIBACH | |
Aust Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:27.631 | 0.733 |
| 8 | 39 | Florian THOMA | |
Junior Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 13 | 1:27.668 | 0.770 |
| 9 | 78 | Fabian DANZ | |
Schläppi Race-Tec | SEAT León Cup Racer | 12 | 1:27.824 | 0.926 |
| 10 | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER | |
Niedertscheider MSP | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 1:28.088 | 1.190 |
| 11 | 36 | Dino CALCUM | |
Schläppi Race-Tec | Opel Astra TCR | 10 | 1:28.184 | 1.286 |
| 12 | 37 | Manuel BRINKMANN | |
TOPCAR Sport | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 1:28.241 | 1.343 |
| 13 | 20 | Niko KANKKUNEN | |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 1:28.262 | 1.364 |
| 14 | 9 | Stefan GOEDE | |
Team Engstler USA | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | 1:28.740 | 1.842 |
| 15 | 23 | Sebastien STEIBEL | |
Steibel Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | 1:29.427 | 2.529 |
| 16 | 50 | Georg BRAUN | |
Lubner Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 12 | 1:29.537 | 2.639 |
Qualifying Group B results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Junior Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 6 | 1:26.979 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 88 | Moritz OESTREICH | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 8 | 1:27.329 | 0.350 |
| 3 | 18 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE | |
AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:27.338 | 0.359 |
| 4 | 28 | Pascal EBERLE | |
Steibel Motorsport | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 1:27.358 | 0.379 |
| 5 | 10 | Antti BURI | |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:27.597 | 0.618 |
| 6 | 94 | Kris RICHARD | |
Target Competition UK-SUI | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 11 | 1:27.642 | 0.663 |
| 7 | 98 | Tom LAUTENSCHLAGER | |
Target Competition GER | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:27.671 | 0.692 |
| 8 | 19 | Max HOFER | |
AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:27.692 | 0.713 |
| 9 | 14 | Niels LANGEVELD |  |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:27.707 | 0.728 |
| 10 | 11 | Jürgen SCHMARL | |
Target Competition AUT-POR | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 12 | 1:27.758 | 0.779 |
| 11 | 33 | Oliver HOLDENER | |
Young Driver Challenge | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 1:27.815 | 0.836 |
| 12 | 38 | Jason WOLFE |  |
Team Engstler USA | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | 1:28.293 | 1.314 |
| 13 | 66 | Ronny JOST | |
TOPCAR Sport | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 1:28.311 | 1.332 |
| 14 | 17 | Jasmin PREISIG | |
Lubner Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 11 | 1:28.329 | 1.350 |
| 15 | 29 | Max HESSE | |
Aust Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:28.421 | 1.442 |
| 16 | 12 | Simon LARSSON |  |
Target Competition SWE-POL | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:29.160 | 2.181 |
| 17 | 84 | Maurits SANDBERG | |
Racing One 2 | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 1:32.433 | 5.454 |