Jean-Karl Vernay secures pole position in Monday qualifying

Audi’s Jean-Karl Vernay took pole position in qualifying for the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) on Monday, giving the Leopard Lukoil driver the top starting position for race three.

Vernay’s RS3 LMS underwent an engine change overnight to solve an issue that had hampered his performances on Sunday, which gives the Frenchman an automatic penalty of starting from the back of the grid for race two.

But with qualifying deciding the order for race three, Vernay set pole as his target and he did so with the second-best lap of the weekend, ending up almost half a second clear of Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Rob Huff.

Gordon Shedden made it through to Q3 for the first time and Vernay’s team-mate put in a ‘scrappy lap’ to go third, over half a second adrift.

Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch was fourth, but the Belgian failed to set a time after his Audi ground to a halt on his flying lap.

The Honda of Esteban Guerrieri made it into Q3 but did not take to the track, leaving the Münnich Motorsport driver with fifth position for the final race.

Guerrieri’s team-mate Yann Ehrlacher improved his time in the closing stages of Q2 to briefly go fourth, but subsequent improvements from others dropped him to sixth, with Sunday’s race one winner missing the Q3 cut by just 0.018 seconds.

Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani was seventh, equalling his best qualifying effort of the year.

Campos Racing’s Pepe Oriola was the leading CUPRA driver in eighth, whilst the Peugeot of DG Sport’s Aurélien Comte and Münnich Motorsport’s James Thompson completed the top ten. For Thompson the reverse grid pole position he gains is his first time starting from the head of the field since Morocco in 2016.

The second Campos car of John Filippi ensured that both CUPRA drivers made it into Q2 in 11^th, ahead of Comtoyou Racing’s Aurélien Panis in 12^th.

The Mulsanne Racing Alfa Romeo drivers enjoyed one of their best sessions of the year so far, with Fabrizio Giovanardi in 16^th and Gianni Morbidelli just one place behind.

Once again all four Hyundai drivers struggled for pace, with YMR’s Yvan Muller being the best placed in 18^th, ahead of team-mate Thed Björk in 19^th.

BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini once again trailed their rival Hyundai team, ending up in 20^th and 22^nd respectively.

Race two takes place at 12:15 CEST (11:15 BST).

Q3 results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	3	1:43.994	0.000
2	12	Rob HUFF		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	3	1:44.453	0.459
3	52	Gordon SHEDDEN		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	3	1:44.590	0.596
4	22	Frédéric VERVISCH		Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS	1	No time	N/A
5	86	Esteban GUERRIERI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	0	No time	N/A

Q2 results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	22	Frédéric VERVISCH		Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS	3	1:44.205	0.000
2	12	Rob HUFF		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	5	1:44.341	0.136
3	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	5	1:44.393	0.188
4	52	Gordon SHEDDEN		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	5	1:44.421	0.216
5	86	Esteban GUERRIERI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	3	1:44.465	0.260
6	68	Yann EHRLACHER		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	5	1:44.483	0.278
7	25	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	5	1:44.592	0.387
8	74	Pepe ORIOLA		Team Oscaro by Campos Racing	CUPRA TCR	5	1:44.642	0.437
9	7	Aurélien COMTE		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	4	1:44.922	0.717
10	15	James THOMPSON		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	5	1:44.972	0.767
11	27	John FILIPPI		Team Oscaro by Campos Racing	CUPRA TCR	4	1:45.040	0.835
12	21	Aurélien PANIS		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	6	1:45.141	0.936

Q1 results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	7	1:44.491	0.000
2	12	Rob HUFF		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	8	1:44.509	0.018
3	22	Frédéric VERVISCH		Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS	8	1:44.537	0.046
4	68	Yann EHRLACHER		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	6	1:44.595	0.104
5	86	Esteban GUERRIERI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	9	1:44.664	0.173
6	52	Gordon SHEDDEN		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	8	1:44.763	0.272
7	74	Pepe ORIOLA		Team Oscaro by Campos Racing	CUPRA TCR	9	1:44.769	0.278
8	25	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	7	1:44.804	0.313
9	27	John FILIPPI		Team Oscaro by Campos Racing	CUPRA TCR	9	1:44.897	0.406
10	21	Aurélien PANIS		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	9	1:45.002	0.511
11	15	James THOMPSON		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	8	1:45.022	0.531
12	7	Aurélien COMTE		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	8	1:45.078	0.587
13	20	Denis DUPONT		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	9	1:45.206	0.715
14	63	Benjamin LESSENNES		Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR	10	1:45.257	0.766
15	23	Nathanaël BERTHON		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	9	1:45.303	0.812
16	88	Fabrizio GIOVANARDI		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	9	1:45.348	0.857
17	10	Gianni MORBIDELLI		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	9	1:45.511	1.020
18	48	Yvan MULLER		YMR	Hyundai i30 N TCR	7	1:45.522	1.031
19	11	Thed BJÖRK		YMR	Hyundai i30 N TCR	8	1:45.640	1.149
20	5	Norbert MICHELISZ		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	7	1:45.758	1.267
21	70	Mat’o HOMOLA		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	8	1:45.774	1.283
22	30	Gabriele TARQUINI		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	8	1:45.932	1.441
23	8	Norbert NAGY		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	10	1:45.970	1.479
24	9	Tom CORONEL		Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda Civic Type R TCR	9	1:46.001	1.510
25	2	Bernhard VAN ORANJE NASSAU		Bas Koeten Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	9	1:46.179	1.688
26	66	Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	9	1:46.232	1.741
27	3	Michael VERHAGEN		Bas Koeten Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	9	1:46.268	1.777