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Thed Björk claims Sunday pole in Vila Real in repaired car

Thed Björk rewarded the YMR mechanics who repaired his car after Saturday’s race one pileup by taking pole position in Sunday’s FIA world Touring Car Cup (WTCR) qualifying session, ahead of BRC Racing duo Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini.

Björk put in a flawless lap in Q3 in his repaired Hyundai i30 N TCR, despite the car having been heavily involved in the accident at the start of race one that saw it briefly catch fire just 18 hours earlier.

“It was a fantastic lap,” said Björk after scoring his fourth pole of the year. “The feeling driving the car, which the guys have been working on all night or they maybe got half an hour sleep or something, as they were up all night, was perfect.

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“I can’t wish for anything else and I just have to drive. It’s so nice. It’s such a good feeling and I’m so proud of the guys.”

Michelisz, who was first to set a time in Q3, ended up in second, over three tenths further back, taking his best qualifying result since scoring pole at the Hungaroring.

Tarquini made it a Hyundai 1-2-3 at the front of the field, just under half a second adrift of the pace, ahead of Campos Racing’s Pepe Oriola in fourth, who lost time with a slide in the second sector of his Q3 lap.

Münnich Motorsport’s Yann Ehrlacher could only manage fifth after making a mistake at the chicane in sector two, with the Frenchman ultimately more than a second slower than Björk.

Sixth was Comtoyou Racing’s Aurélien Panis, the leading Audi driver, after a late improvement in Q2, ahead of Leopard Lukoil’s Jean-Karl Vernay in seventh.

DG Sport Compétition’s Mat’o Homola improved on his Saturday qualifying effort to put his Peugeot in eighth, whilst the front row of the reverse-grid second race will see YMR’s Yvan Muller and Leopard Lukoil’s Gordon Shedden at the front after they qualified in ninth and tenth respectively.

Campos Racing’s John Filippi only just missed out on the grid reversal and will start 11th for races two and three respectively, ahead of Boutsen Ginion Racing’s Benjamin Lessennes in 12th.

A continuation of technical issues for the Comtoyou Audi drivers persisted in Q1, with Frédéric Vervisch crawling to a halt and causing a ten-minute stoppage, leaving the Belgian down in 21st. His team-mate Nathanaël Berthon, who qualified 13th, also stopped at the end of the session with a technical issue.

Veloso Motorsport’s Edgar Florindo was the best of the wildcard entries, putting his CUPRA in 17th, whilst José Rodrigues was 23rd in the older-spec Honda Civic run by Target Competition.

The second Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda of Tom Coronel hit the barriers during Q1, causing the second red flag stoppage, leaving the Dutchman to start from the back of the grid in 24th for both races.

Despite Saturday’s carnage, almost all cars have been repaired ahead of Sunday’s action, with only three cars missing. Unsurprisingly both Sébastien Loeb Racing cars of Rob Huff and Mehdi Bennani have been withdrawn, and the team have left the circuit, as well as the Münnich Motorsport Honda of James Thompson, which required a new gearbox to be installed.

Race two gets underway at 15:45 BST (16:45 CEST) followed by race three at 17:10 BST (18:10 CEST).

Q3 results

POS NO DRIVER NAT ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME GAP
1 11 Thed BJÖRK YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR 3 1:59.824 0.000
2 5 Norbert MICHELISZ BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR 3 2:00.164 0.340
3 30 Gabriele TARQUINI BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR 3 2:00.319 0.495
4 74 Pepe ORIOLA Team Oscaro by Campos Racing CUPRA TCR 3 2:00.426 0.602
5 68 Yann EHRLACHER ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR 3 2:01.266 1.442

Q2 results

POS NO DRIVER NAT ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME GAP
1 11 Thed BJÖRK YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR 6 1:59.946 0.000
2 68 Yann EHRLACHER ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR 5 2:00.365 0.419
3 30 Gabriele TARQUINI BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR 5 2:00.424 0.478
4 74 Pepe ORIOLA Team Oscaro by Campos Racing CUPRA TCR 6 2:00.426 0.480
5 5 Norbert MICHELISZ BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR 6 2:00.465 0.519
6 21 Aurélien PANIS Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS 5 2:00.627 0.681
7 69 Jean-Karl VERNAY Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team Audi RS3 LMS 6 2:00.636 0.690
8 70 Mat’o HOMOLA DG Sport Compétition Peugeot 308 TCR 6 2:00.637 0.691
9 48 Yvan MULLER YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR 6 2:01.011 1.065
10 52 Gordon SHEDDEN Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team Audi RS3 LMS 5 2:01.114 1.168
11 27 John FILIPPI Team Oscaro by Campos Racing CUPRA TCR 6 2:01.131 1.185
12 63 Benjamin LESSENNES Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR 6 2:01.135 1.189

Q1 results

POS NO DRIVER NAT ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME GAP
1 30 Gabriele TARQUINI BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR 10 2:00.564 0.000
2 11 Thed BJÖRK YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR 7 2:00.841 0.277
3 48 Yvan MULLER YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR 9 2:00.866 0.302
4 21 Aurélien PANIS Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS 10 2:00.876 0.312
5 5 Norbert MICHELISZ BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR 8 2:00.996 0.432
6 68 Yann EHRLACHER ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR 7 2:01.076 0.512
7 52 Gordon SHEDDEN Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team Audi RS3 LMS 9 2:01.130 0.566
8 74 Pepe ORIOLA Team Oscaro by Campos Racing CUPRA TCR 7 2:01.151 0.587
9 27 John FILIPPI Team Oscaro by Campos Racing CUPRA TCR 10 2:01.255 0.691
10 69 Jean-Karl VERNAY Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team Audi RS3 LMS 9 2:01.297 0.733
11 63 Benjamin LESSENNES Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR 7 2:01.323 0.759
12 70 Mat’o HOMOLA DG Sport Compétition Peugeot 308 TCR 9 2:01.426 0.862
13 23 Nathanaël BERTHON Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS 10 2:01.626 1.062
14 7 Aurélien COMTE DG Sport Compétition Peugeot 308 TCR 9 2:01.654 1.090
15 88 Fabrizio GIOVANARDI Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR 10 2:01.721 1.157
16 8 Norbert NAGY Zengő Motorsport CUPRA TCR 11 2:01.750 1.186
17 13 Edgar FLORINDO Veloso Motorsport CUPRA TCR 10 2:01.809 1.245
18 20 Denis DUPONT Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS 10 2:01.983 1.419
19 86 Esteban GUERRIERI ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR 8 2:02.345 1.781
20 10 Gianni MORBIDELLI Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR 6 2:02.421 1.857
21 22 Frédéric VERVISCH Audi Sport Team Comtoyou Audi RS3 LMS 5 2:02.726 2.162
22 66 Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ Zengő Motorsport CUPRA TCR 3 2:03.115 2.551
23 26 José RODRIGUES Target Competition Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR 11 2:03.593 3.029
24 9 Tom CORONEL Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR 8 2:06.503 5.939
25 15 James THOMPSON ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR No time N/A
26 12 Rob HUFF Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR No time N/A
27 25 Mehdi BENNANI Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR No time N/A
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