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Gabriele Tarquini claims pole position in Sunday WTCR qualifying

Gabriele Tarquini followed up his win in Saturday’s first FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) race with pole position in Sunday’s qualifying session, beating fellow Hyundai racer Yvan Muller to pole by less than a tenth of a second.

On his solo Q3 lap it was Italian maestro Tarquini who proved capable of making the most out of his car with a faultless lap that eclipsed old touring car Muller by 0.080 seconds.

“It was experience but speed, because experience sometimes is not enough,” said a delighted Tarquini. “Yesterday I played really strong on experience, and today was the day to push and be on pole.

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“It was a big fight between the Hyundais and fortunately I made a clean lap without any mistakes, because on this track it is very easy to make mistakes.

“I’m very lucky that the dream continues. This car is my baby and normally babies respect the parents, so this probably gives me a little advantage!”

Hungarian Norbert Michelisz made the most of his chances to claim third and make up for the bad luck that dogged him on Saturday, whilst the second YMR car of Thed Björk was fourth, ensuring a Hyundai 1-2-3-4 at the head of the field.

Münnich Motorsport’s Yann Ehrlacher was fifth, unable to match the pace of the leading South Korean cars but comfortably the leading Honda driver, as the Frenchman had also been in Q1 and Q2.

Just missing out on the cut for Q3 was Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Rob Huff, who was sixth fastest and just 0.005 seconds away from progressing further.

Huff;’s team-mate and local hero Mehdi Bennani was seventh in his Volkswagen Golf GTi, ahead of Münnich Motorsport’s James Thompson in eighth, with the Brit enjoying one of his strongest qualifying sessions in several years.

Jena-Karl Vernay was the leading Audi driver in ninth, whilst Campos Racing’s Pepe Oriola completed the top ten, handing the CUPRA driver the reverse-grid pole position for the first race of the day and the second race of the weekend in the afternoon.

Global touring car newcomer Gordon Shedden just missed out on the reverse grid and was 11th, leaving the Scot on the sixth row of the grid for both of Sunday afternoon’s races. Fellow Audi racer Frédéric Vervisch completed the Q2 runners in 12th.

The third Münnich Motorsport Honda of Esteban Guerrieri was 13th, despite the Argentine pushing hard in the final stages of the half-hour Q1 session.

Boutsen Ginion Racing’s Tom Coronel was 14th, ahead of Campos Racing’s John Filippi in 15th. Mat’o Homola, who put his Peugeot in 16th, did so despite spinning into the barriers at Turn 5 half-way through Q1.

The first part of qualifying featured a lengthy 20-minute delay when Comtoyou Racing’s Denis Dupont went into the Turn 1 barriers after 15 minutes. The accident spelt the end of the Belgian’s session, leaving him down in 21st and his team with an uphill task to repair his Audi for the afternoon’s races.

Both of Team Mulsanne’s Alfa Romeo drivers continued to struggle for pace, with Fabrizio Giovanardi down in 23rd, 1.3 seconds off the pace after clipping a barrier and damaging his car, and Gianni Morbidelli in last overall in 25th, almost two seconds off the pace.

The second WTCR race of the weekend takes place at 16:45 BST (17:45 CEST).

Q3 results

POS NO DRIVER NAT ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME GAP
1 30 Gabriele TARQUINI BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR 3 1:24.316 0.000
2 48 Yvan MULLER YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR 3 1:24.396 0.080
3 5 Norbert MICHELISZ BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR 3 1:24.540 0.224
4 11 Thed BJÖRK YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR 3 1:24.653 0.337
5 68 Yann EHRLACHER ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic TCR 3 1:24.797 0.481

Q2 results

POS NO DRIVER NAT ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME GAP
1 11 Thed BJÖRK YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR 6 1:24.392 0.000
2 30 Gabriele TARQUINI BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR 7 1:24.442 0.050
3 5 Norbert MICHELISZ BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR 9 1:24.519 0.127
4 48 Yvan MULLER YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR 7 1:24.658 0.266
5 68 Yann EHRLACHER ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic TCR 9 1:24.738 0.346
6 12 Rob HUFF Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR 9 1:24.743 0.351
7 25 Mehdi BENNANI Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR 7 1:24.789 0.397
8 15 James THOMPSON ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic TCR 8 1:24.807 0.415
9 69 Jean-Karl VERNAY Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team Audi RS3 LMS 9 1:24.910 0.518
10 74 Pepe ORIOLA Team Oscaro by Campos Racing CUPRA TCR 7 1:25.067 0.675
11 52 Gordon SHEDDEN Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team Audi RS3 LMS 8 1:25.151 0.759
12 22 Frédéric VERVISCH Audi Sport Team Comtoyou Audi RS3 LMS 9 1:25.201 0.809

Q1 results

POS NO DRIVER NAT ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME GAP
1 48 Yvan MULLER YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR 11 1:24.734 0.000
2 11 Thed BJÖRK YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR 11 1:24.796 0.062
3 30 Gabriele TARQUINI BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR 13 1:24.816 0.082
4 5 Norbert MICHELISZ BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR 9 1:24.863 0.129
5 12 Rob HUFF Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR 11 1:24.877 0.143
6 69 Jean-Karl VERNAY Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team Audi RS3 LMS 13 1:25.080 0.346
7 25 Mehdi BENNANI Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR 14 1:25.082 0.348
8 68 Yann EHRLACHER ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic TCR 16 1:25.112 0.378
9 22 Frédéric VERVISCH Audi Sport Team Comtoyou Audi RS3 LMS 12 1:25.301 0.567
10 15 James THOMPSON ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic TCR 16 1:25.302 0.568
11 74 Pepe ORIOLA Team Oscaro by Campos Racing CUPRA TCR 13 1:25.320 0.586
12 52 Gordon SHEDDEN Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team Audi RS3 LMS 13 1:25.339 0.605
13 86 Esteban GUERRIERI ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic TCR 15 1:25.361 0.627
14 9 Tom CORONEL Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic TCR 16 1:25.407 0.673
15 27 John FILIPPI Team Oscaro by Campos Racing CUPRA TCR 14 1:25.420 0.686
16 70 Mat’o HOMOLA DG Sport Compétition Peugeot 308 TCR 14 1:25.423 0.689
17 63 Benjamin LESSENNES Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic TCR 18 1:25.459 0.725
18 7 Aurélien COMTE DG Sport Compétition Peugeot 308 TCR 16 1:25.531 0.797
19 66 Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ Zengő Motorsport CUPRA TCR 16 1:25.762 1.028
20 23 Nathanaël BERTHON Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS 14 1:25.828 1.094
21 20 Denis DUPONT Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS 8 1:25.906 1.172
22 8 Norbert NAGY Zengő Motorsport CUPRA TCR 16 1:26.002 1.268
23 88 Fabrizio GIOVANARDI Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR 14 1:26.064 1.330
24 21 Aurélien PANIS Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS 13 1:26.409 1.675
25 10 Gianni MORBIDELLI Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR 12 1:26.708 1.974
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