Dušan Borković on pole by nearly half a second at Le Castellet

Dušan Borković took pole position for the TCR Europe season opener at Paul Ricard, nearly half a second clear of Mikel Azcona and Daniel Nagy.

Borković set his quickest time of 2:13.781 seconds early in the second part of qualifying and was never headed, maintaining the Hyundai i30 N’s strong start to 2018 in TCR categories.

Qualifying 1

All 25 cars headed out onto the 3.6 mile circuit without issue, though a select few – including 2017 TCR Europe Trophy winner Josh Files – elected to return to the pits after an installation lap whilst the majority continued.

Practice pace-setter Azcona continued his strong start to the weekend by topping those that remained on-circuit with a 2:15.343, just ahead of Jean-Karl Vernay’s Audi RS 3 LMS.

Though he improved by a further tenth on his next tour of the circuit, once Files and co. rejoined the session times began to drop further still.

The Brit lowered times closer to those seen in practice with a 2:14.619, though team-mate Attila Tassi might have stolen that honour if not for falling foul of track limits in the Honda Civic Type R FK8.

With five minutes remaining, both Tassi and double TCR International Champion Stefano Comini found themselves in the firing line for elimination, and neither would escape.

Comini, who only announced his deal to race the Subaru WRX STI in mid-week, will start last.

Stian Paulsen did well to cruise through into the second part of the session despite setting the fewest laps in the rebuilt CUPRA.

As per the regulations, the bottom 13 dropped out after 20 minutes, with Loris Cencetti, Maxime Potty, Danny Kroes, Francisco Abreu, Tassi, Mark Jedloczky, Cedric Piro, Giovanni Altoe, Andrea Larini, Enrico Bettera, Gustavo Moura, Viktor Davidovsky and Comini the casualties, in that order.

Qualifying 2

The sheer length of the Circuit Paul Ricard ensured each driver would only set three or four timed laps in the 10 minute shoot-out for pole position, with avoiding track limits penalties an absolute must.

With that in mind, everyone except Nicola Baldan and Igor Stefanovski went straight out on circuit.

There would be no late drama this time around, with Borković’s early run enough to secure him the top spot.

Paulsen’s run to P4 ensures that Hyundai and CUPRA lock out the front two rows of the grid, the latter possibly a result of the recent BoP changes ahead of the weekend, the ride height now reduced by 10mm.

Britain’s Josh Files heads up row three alongside Reece Barr’s i30 N, with Vernay and 2016 ETCC champion Kris Richard for company behind in fifth and sixth.

Francisco Moura and Jens Reno Moller round out the top ten, with Stefanovski and Baldan’s decision to wait potentially telling as they struggled to get on terms with the others in Q2, and start eleventh and twelfth respectively.

The opening race of the weekend in southern France is scheduled for 14:40 CEST.

Q2 results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	62	Dušan BORKOVIĆ		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	4	2:13.781	0.000
2	25	Mikel AZCONA		PCR Sport	CUPRA TCR	3	2:14.225	0.444
3	9	Dániel NAGY		M1RA	Hyundai i30 N TCR	5	2:14.264	0.483
4	34	Stian PAULSEN		Stian Paulsen Racing	CUPRA TCR	2	2:14.378	0.597
5	99	Josh FILES		Hell Energy Racing with KCMG	Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR	4	2:14.392	0.611
6	8	Reece BARR		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	4	2:14.437	0.656
7	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	4	2:14.606	0.825
8	94	Kris RICHARD		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	3	2:14.617	0.836
9	26	Francisco MORA		M1RA	Hyundai i30 N TCR	4	2:14.740	0.959
10	11	Jens Reno MØLLER		Reno Racing	Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR	3	2:14.762	0.981
11	7	Igor STEFANOVSKI		Stefanovski Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	4	2:15.096	1.315
12	16	Nicola BALDAN		Pit Lane Competizioni	Hyundai i30 N TCR	3	2:15.171	1.390

Q1 results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	7	Igor STEFANOVSKI		Stefanovski Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	8	2:14.034	0.000
2	25	Mikel AZCONA		PCR Sport	CUPRA TCR	7	2:14.053	0.019
3	9	Dániel NAGY		M1RA	Hyundai i30 N TCR	8	2:14.123	0.089
4	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	7	2:14.589	0.555
5	99	Josh FILES		Hell Energy Racing with KCMG	Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR	8	2:14.619	0.585
6	62	Dušan BORKOVIĆ		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	7	2:14.746	0.712
7	26	Francisco MORA		M1RA	Hyundai i30 N TCR	7	2:14.762	0.728
8	8	Reece BARR		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	7	2:14.863	0.829
9	34	Stian PAULSEN		Stian Paulsen Racing	CUPRA TCR	4	2:14.980	0.946
10	94	Kris RICHARD		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	7	2:15.175	1.141
11	11	Jens Reno MØLLER		Reno Racing	Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR	6	2:15.179	1.145
12	16	Nicola BALDAN		Pit Lane Competizioni	Hyundai i30 N TCR	7	2:15.486	1.452
13	14	Loris CENCETTI		Autodis Racing by Piro Sports	Hyundai i30 N TCR	7	2:15.652	1.618
14	88	Maxime POTTY		Comtoyou Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	8	2:15.907	1.873
15	38	Danny KROES		PCR Sport	CUPRA TCR	7	2:15.960	1.926
16	23	Francisco ABREU		Sports & You	Peugeot 308 TCR	9	2:16.387	2.353
17	90	Attila TASSI		Hell Energy Racing with KCMG	Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR	9	2:16.411	2.377
18	20	Márk JEDLÓCZKY		JLG Sport	CUPRA TCR	8	2:16.851	2.817
19	13	Cedric PIRO		Autodis Racing by Piro Sports	Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR	7	2:17.446	3.412
20	63	Giovanni ALTOÈ		Pit Lane Competizioni	Audi RS3 LMS TCR DSG	9	2:17.460	3.426
21	66	Andrea LARINI		Pit Lane Competizioni	CUPRA TCR	8	2:17.780	3.746
22	71	Enrico BETTERA		Pit Lane Competizioni	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	8	2:17.851	3.817
23	24	Gustavo MOURA		Speedy Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	8	2:18.366	4.332
24	10	Viktor DAVIDOVSKY		PSS Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR	8	2:18.543	4.509
25	42	Stefano COMINI		Race Republic	Subaru WRX STi TCR	7	2:18.582	4.548