Teamwork Motorsport driver Jean-Karl Vernay was fastest in the first joint qualifying session for the first TCR China / Asia Series race at the Zhejiang Circuit in China, ahead of the leading TCR Asia car of Kantadhee Kusiri.
The early pace in the session was set by TCR Asia points leader Kusiri in his Engstler Motorsport Volkswagen Golf, but Frenchman Vernay then put in a succession of fast laps, initially with an effort of 1 minute 34.699 seconds on his seventh lap.
The Leopard Racing regular, who is entered into the TCR China class this weekend along with endurance race driver Alex Hui, then went even faster on his eighth and ninth laps respectively, ending up with pole by just over three tenths of a second from his fellow Volkswagen racer.
Tin Sritrai was third fastest and the top Honda driver in this Team Thailand Civic, just over half a second off pole, ahead of the second Engstler motorsport car of Ecuadorian Diego Moran in fourth.
Of note, TCR Asia Series title contender Lai Wee Sing could only manage 15th in his R Engineering Honda, with the Malaysian racer requiring a strong first race in order to keep his title hopes alive in this afternoon’s championship finale.
Race one takes place at 14:25 (07:25 BST, 08:25 CEST) local time, with race two following at 16:30 (09:30 BST, 10:30 CEST).
Qualifying Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 31 | Jean-Karl VERNAY* |  |
Teamwork Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:34.580 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 2 | Kantadhee KUSIRI |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 1:34.885 | 0.305 |
| 3 | 9 | Tin SRITRAI | |
Team Thailand | Honda Civic TCR | 10 | 1:35.162 | 0.582 |
| 4 | 32 | Diego MORAN |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:35.570 | 0.990 |
| 5 | 82 | Andy YAN Cheuk Wai* |  |
NewFaster | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:35.870 | 1.290 |
| 6 | 26 | Samuel HSIEH* | |
Teamwork Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:35.948 | 1.368 |
| 7 | 99 | Alex LIU Lic Ka |  |
Elegant Racing Team | SEAT León TCR DSG | 12 | 1:36.342 | 1.762 |
| 8 | 66 | HUANG Chu Han |  |
NewFaster | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:36.402 | 1.822 |
| 9 | 62 | Sunny WONG* | |
Teamwork Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:36.987 | 2.407 |
| 10 | 23 | Abdul KAATHIR Mohamed Mustaffa |  |
R Engineering | Honda Civic TCR | 7 | 1:37.388 | 2.808 |
| 11 | 9 | DENG Bao Wei* | |
LEO109 Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:37.944 | 3.364 |
| 12 | 5 | Jasper THONG Wei Heen | |
Audi Hong Kong | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:37.970 | 3.390 |
| 13 | 58 | LO Kai Bong | |
HE Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:38.209 | 3.629 |
| 14 | 21 | WANG Hao* | |
NewFaster | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 1:38.283 | 3.703 |
| 15 | 39 | LAI Wee Sing | |
R Engineering | Honda Civic TCR | 9 | 1:38.382 | 3.802 |
| 16 | 66 | CAI Hong Yu | |
TrackFun-Linky Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:38.733 | 4.153 |
| 17 | 65 | Douglas KHOO Kok Hui | |
Viper Niza Racing | SEAT León TCR | 12 | 1:38.739 | 4.159 |
| 18 | 98 | Eric KWONG | |
Elegant Racing Team | SEAT León TCR DSG | 9 | 1:38.918 | 4.338 |
| 19 | 77 | HU Hao | |
LEO109 Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:39.456 | 4.876 |
| 20 | 791 | Qi Pei Wen* | |
AVM Racing | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 1:39.873 | 5.293 |
* Denotes driver entered into TCR China series.