YMR’s Thed Björk continued his dominance of the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) in China, taking his second consecutive pole position ahead of BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz in Ningbo in a Hyundai 1-2 at the top of the times.
Björk followed up his Saturday pole by pulling out a lap time when it mattered in Q3, having earlier been third and fourth fastest in the first two parts of qualifying to make it through to the one-lap showdown segment.
Björk’s closest challenge came from Hungarian Michelisz, who secured a front row grid slot for race three but could not take pole after running wide at a few crucial moments on his hot lap to end up a tenth of a second adrift.
Münnich Motorsport’s Esteban Guerrieri was the best of the Honda drivers in third, splitting the BRC cars as Gabriele Tarquini put his Hyundai i30 N in fourth.
Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Rob Huff was fifth after only just scraping into Q3, half a second off the pace.
Comtoyou Racing’s Denis Dupont was sixth quickest, just missing out on entry into Q3 but securing the best Audi grid position, ahead of team-mate Frédéric Vervisch in seventh, with the Belgian having gone wide on his final Q1 lap and damaged his splitter, meaning he only got one run in Q2.
Münnich Motorsport’s Yann Ehrlacher put his Honda in eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by YMR’s Yvan Muller and the second SLR Volkswagen of Mehdi Bennani, who secured the reverse-grid pole position for the second race.
Frenchman Nathanaël Berthon got through to Q2 for the second consecutive meeting and qualified his Audi in 11th for both races, whilst Boutsen Ginion Racing’s Ma Qing Hua completed just one flying lap in Q2 and ended up in 12th, having made it into Q2 for his first three-part WTCR qualifying session.
Perhaps the biggest name not to make it past Q1 was Leopard Lukoil’s Jean-Karl Vernay, who was just 13th fastest in his Audi in Q1, with the WRT cars once again being out-performed by their Comtoyou rivals.
DG Sport Compétition’s Aurélien Comte was 14th in the best of the Peugeots, ahead of Campos Racing’s Pepe Oriola in 15th – with the Spaniard, the highest points scorer at the last meeting, disappointed to be almost eight tenths off the pace in the first part of qualifying.
Several experienced names found themselves propping up the timesheets, with three-time BTCC champion Gordon Shedden just 22nd in his Leopard Lukoil Audi, whilst Team Mulsanne’s Fabrizio Giovanardi was slowest of all, 1.795 seconds off the pace in his Alfa Romeo.
The reverse-grid second race is scheduled to get underway at 14:20 local time (07:20 BST, 08:20 CEST), followed by race three at 15:40 local time (08:40 BST, 09:40 CEST).
Q3 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 1:50.371 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 1:50.474 | 0.103 |
| 3 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 3 | 1:50.517 | 0.146 |
| 4 | 30 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 1:50.622 | 0.251 |
| 5 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 3 | 1:50.902 | 0.531 |
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 5 | 1:50.150 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 30 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 1:50.370 | 0.220 |
| 3 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 1:50.415 | 0.265 |
| 4 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK | |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 1:50.440 | 0.290 |
| 5 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 1:50.467 | 0.317 |
| 6 | 20 | Denis DUPONT |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 5 | 1:50.591 | 0.441 |
| 7 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH | |
Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS | 2 | 1:50.602 | 0.452 |
| 8 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 5 | 1:50.729 | 0.579 |
| 9 | 48 | Yvan MULLER | |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 1:50.732 | 0.582 |
| 10 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 1:50.913 | 0.763 |
| 11 | 23 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 5 | 1:51.070 | 0.920 |
| 12 | 55 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 5 | 1:51.464 | 1.314 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 48 | Yvan MULLER | |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 1:50.406 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 1:50.492 | 0.086 |
| 3 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK | |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | 1:50.505 | 0.099 |
| 4 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 7 | 1:50.524 | 0.118 |
| 5 | 30 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 1:50.529 | 0.123 |
| 6 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 8 | 1:50.757 | 0.351 |
| 7 | 20 | Denis DUPONT | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 6 | 1:50.893 | 0.487 |
| 8 | 55 | MA Qing Hua | |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 8 | 1:50.908 | 0.502 |
| 9 | 23 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 8 | 1:50.919 | 0.513 |
| 10 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 1:50.943 | 0.537 |
| 11 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 6 | 1:50.980 | 0.574 |
| 12 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH | |
Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS | 8 | 1:51.067 | 0.661 |
| 13 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 9 | 1:51.145 | 0.739 |
| 14 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 8 | 1:51.169 | 0.763 |
| 15 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 1:51.190 | 0.784 |
| 16 | 21 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 8 | 1:51.205 | 0.799 |
| 17 | 66 | Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 7 | 1:51.226 | 0.820 |
| 18 | 42 | Timo SCHEIDER |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 1:51.484 | 1.078 |
| 19 | 31 | Kevin CECCON | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 8 | 1:51.759 | 1.353 |
| 20 | 8 | Norbert NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 8 | 1:51.774 | 1.368 |
| 21 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 8 | 1:51.871 | 1.465 |
| 22 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 8 | 1:51.946 | 1.540 |
| 23 | 9 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 8 | 1:52.023 | 1.617 |
| 24 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 1:52.183 | 1.777 |
| 25 | 88 | Fabrizio GIOVANARDI | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 8 | 1:52.201 | 1.795 |