Mike Halder claims third pole of season at Nürburgring

Mike Halder claimed his third pole position of the ADAC TCR Germany season in qualifying at the Nürburgring, putting his Honda at the top of the timesheets ahead of the Audi of Max Hesse by over half a second.

Halder, who topped both free practice sessions, had earlier been slower than Hesse in Q1, but improved his time by almost a second to claim this third pole out of the four qualifying sessions in 2018 thus far.

Hesse had to settle for second in his Prosport Audi, whilst the Peugeot of Lukas Niedertscheider was third, having put in a strong performance.

Racing One’s Niels Langeveld was 0.863 seconds adrift of Halder’s pace in fourth, with the Dutchman also being Halder’s closest rival in the title battle.

Michelle Halder was fifth fastest in her CUPRA, being the only other driver to be within a second of her brother’s pace.

HP Racing’s Harald Proczyk had earlier been quickest in Q1 but could only manage sixth in Q2, four tenths slower than his earlier lap.

Halder’s team-mate Dominik Fugel was seventh fastest, ahead of Wolf-Power Racing’s Oliver Holdener in eighth.

Max Kruse Racing’s Benjamin Leuchter and HP Racing’s Luke Wankmüller completed the top ten, and will start race two from the reverse-grid front row, with Wankmüller’s Opel on pole.

Neither of Engstler Motorsport’s drivers made it into the top ten, with 12^th placed Theo Coicaud the best placed on his first weekend since switching to Hyundai machinery. Luca Engstler missed the cut to get into Q2 and was just 18^th, seven tenths off the Q1 pace.

Race one gets underway at 11:55 CEST (10:55 BST) on Saturday.

Q2 results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	7	Mike HALDER		Team Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic TCR 2018	5	1:34.263	0.000
2	19	Max HESSE		Prosport Performance	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	6	1:34.848	0.585
3	42	Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER		Niedertscheider Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	6	1:35.092	0.829
4	14	Niels LANGEVELD		Racing One	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	6	1:35.126	0.863
5	53	Michelle HALDER		Profi-Car Team Halder	CUPRA TCR	6	1:35.173	0.910
6	22	Harald PROCZYK		HP Racing International	Opel Astra TCR	5	1:35.328	1.065
7	88	Dominik FUGEL		Team Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic TCR 2018	6	1:35.357	1.094
8	6	Oliver HOLDENER		Wolf-Power Racing	CUPRA TCR	6	1:35.624	1.361
9	10	Benjamin LEUCHTER		Max Kruse Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	6	1:35.661	1.398
10	11	Luke WANKMÜLLER		HP Racing International	Opel Astra TCR	6	1:35.734	1.471
11	17	Jasmin PREISIG		Steibel Motorsport	Opel Astra TCR	6	1:35.842	1.579
12	27	Theo COICAUD		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	6	1:35.917	1.654

Q1 results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	22	Harald PROCZYK		HP Racing International	Opel Astra TCR	11	1:34.988	0.000
2	19	Max HESSE		Prosport Performance	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	10	1:35.014	0.026
3	7	Mike HALDER		Team Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic TCR 2018	4	1:35.130	0.142
4	42	Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER		Niedertscheider Motorsport	Peugeot 308 TCR	10	1:35.164	0.176
5	11	Luke WANKMÜLLER		HP Racing International	Opel Astra TCR	12	1:35.202	0.214
6	27	Theo COICAUD		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	10	1:35.308	0.320
7	6	Oliver HOLDENER		Wolf-Power Racing	CUPRA TCR	13	1:35.354	0.366
8	53	Michelle HALDER		Profi-Car Team Halder	CUPRA TCR	6	1:35.393	0.405
9	10	Benjamin LEUCHTER		Max Kruse Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	11	1:35.394	0.406
10	14	Niels LANGEVELD		Racing One	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	8	1:35.419	0.431
11	17	Jasmin PREISIG		Steibel Motorsport	Opel Astra TCR	13	1:35.530	0.542
12	88	Dominik FUGEL		Team Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic TCR 2018	13	1:35.606	0.618
13	54	Simon REICHER		YACO Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	4	1:35.654	0.666
14	40	Olli KANGAS		LMS Racing	CUPRA TCR	15	1:35.670	0.682
15	30	Antti BURI		LMS Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	1:35.674	0.686
16	29	Jussi KUUSINIEMI		Positione Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	12	1:35.688	0.700
17	77	Justin HÄUßERMANN		Team Engstler Germany	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	12	1:35.740	0.752
18	8	Luca ENGSTLER		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	7	1:35.758	0.770
19	39	Florian THOMA		Team Engstler Europe	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	14	1:35.956	0.968
20	45	Peter TERTING		Prosport Performance	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	10	1:36.027	1.039
21	23	Sebastian STEIBEL		Steibel Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	12	1:36.056	1.068
22	47	Niko KANKKUNEN		Team Engstler Europe	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	10	1:36.233	1.245
23	3	Kai JORDAN		Team Engstler Germany	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	12	1:36.474	1.486
24	99	Maurits SANDBERG		Racing One	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	1:36.577	1.589
25	4	Jan SEYFFERT		Lubner Motorsport	Opel Astra TCR	13	1:36.650	1.662
26	33	JC REYNOLDS		TOPCAR Sport	CUPRA TCR	14	1:36.834	1.846
27	31	Leonardo TINLAND		Young Driver Challenge	CUPRA TCR	14	1:36.852	1.864
28	9	Daniel DAVIDOVAC		HP Racing International 2	Opel Astra TCR	14	1:36.928	1.940
29	36	Dino CALCUM		BC Motorsport	Opel Astra TCR	14	1:37.104	2.116
30	41	Steve KIRSCH		Besagroup Racing Team	Renault Mégane TCR	10	1:37.821	2.833
31	15	Franjo KOVAC		Besagroup Racing Team	Renault Mégane TCR	3	No time	N/A