Rob Huff continued to prove his mettle in the second FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) qualifying session in Macau, topping all three segments to claim a second successive pole ahead of Esteban Guerrieri.
Having earlier in the day claimed pole position for race one in the separate qualifying session, Huff went out for qualifying for races two and three seeking to secure an eighth pole on the streets of the Circuito da Guia.
The Brit continued to display his strong early on, topping Q1 by just over a tenth from Münnich Motorsport’s Guerrieri, before going on to see off Jean-Karl Vernay by four tenths in Q2.
The Brit started Q3 on the back foot as he lost time to Guerrieri early in the lap, but he fought back through sector three – despite brushing the wall – and claimed pole by just under four tenths of a second.
“You want to end on a high, and regardless of what happens in the races tomorrow and Sunday we’ve come here and we’ve stamped our mark again,” said Huff. “The car was just amazing.
“I hit the wall on the last lap; I knew the lap time we had to beat, and I knew I could go pretty steady but I went a bit too steady in sector one and then realised I had to catch up a bit.
“I put the hammer down in the middle sector, gained the time I needed to and just got it home. It’s a great result and I’m pleased for the team.”
Just as in first qualifying, Guerrieri had to settle for second with a front-row grid position alongside Huff.
BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz was the best of the Hyundais in third ahead of the WRT Audi of Jean-Karl Vernay in fourth, the pair separated by just 0.005 seconds.
Münnich Motorsport’s Yann Ehrlacher put his Honda in fifth, the young Frenchman seeking to gain a strong grid position for race three after an engine change earlier in the weekend means he has to start race one from the back of the grid.
The best of the championship contenders was YMR’s Yvan Muller in sixth, with the experienced Frenchman crucially being the only one of the top three to even make it beyond Q1.
Points leader Gabriele Tarquini had earlier crashed into the barriers at Lisboa, ending his Q1 session and meaning he has to start both the second and third race from 14th on the grid, one place behind YMR’s Thed Björk.
Campos Racing’s Pepe Oriola was the leading CUPRA driver in seventh, ahead of Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch in eighth.
Team Mulsanne’s Kevin Ceccon and Münnich Motorsport’s Timo Scheider completed the top ten, the latter claiming a first-ever reverse grid pole for the second race of the weekend on Sunday.
Q2 had to be brought to a premature end when SLR’s Mehdi Bennani crashed into the tyre barrier at Police bend – the Moroccan ended up qualifying in 11th, ahead of Comtoyou Racing’s Nathanaël Berthon, who failed to post a time.
Although all 31 entrants took to the circuit, it is not anticipated that either of the Macanese locals Rui Valente or Lam Kam San will start races two or three due to qualifying more than 109% off the pace.
Race one is scheduled to take place at 14:25 local time on Saturday (06:25 GMT, 07:25 CET).
Q3 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 3 | 2:29.660 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 3 | 2:30.034 | 0.374 |
| 3 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:30.218 | 0.558 |
| 4 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 3 | 2:30.223 | 0.563 |
| 5 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 3 | 2:30.669 | 1.009 |
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 4 | 2:29.207 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 4 | 2:29.614 | 0.407 |
| 3 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 4 | 2:29.790 | 0.583 |
| 4 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 2:30.108 | 0.901 |
| 5 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 4 | 2:30.134 | 0.927 |
| 6 | 48 | Yvan MULLER | |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 2:30.287 | 1.080 |
| 7 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 4 | 2:30.615 | 1.408 |
| 8 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH |  |
Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS | 3 | 2:30.639 | 1.432 |
| 9 | 31 | Kevin CECCON |  |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 3 | 2:31.057 | 1.850 |
| 10 | 42 | Timo SCHEIDER |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 4 | 2:31.478 | 2.271 |
| 11 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 3 | 4:32.403 | 3.196 |
| 12 | 23 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 4 | No time | N/A |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 8 | 2:29.333 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 7 | 2:29.440 | 0.107 |
| 3 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 2:30.024 | 0.691 |
| 4 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 6 | 2:30.248 | 0.915 |
| 5 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 10 | 2:30.436 | 1.103 |
| 6 | 48 | Yvan MULLER | |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 2:30.556 | 1.223 |
| 7 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 2:30.625 | 1.292 |
| 8 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA | |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:30.640 | 1.307 |
| 9 | 42 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 8 | 2:30.690 | 1.357 |
| 10 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH | |
Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS | 10 | 2:30.772 | 1.439 |
| 11 | 31 | Kevin CECCON | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 8 | 2:30.892 | 1.559 |
| 12 | 23 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 10 | 2:30.899 | 1.566 |
| 13 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:30.920 | 1.587 |
| 14 | 30 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | 2:31.113 | 1.780 |
| 15 | 21 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 9 | 2:31.156 | 1.823 |
| 16 | 55 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 2:31.315 | 1.982 |
| 17 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:31.374 | 2.041 |
| 18 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 10 | 2:31.427 | 2.094 |
| 19 | 16 | Luigi FERRARA | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 10 | 2:31.611 | 2.278 |
| 20 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 2:31.732 | 2.399 |
| 21 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 6 | 2:32.101 | 2.768 |
| 22 | 20 | Denis DUPONT | |
Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS | 9 | 2:32.705 | 3.372 |
| 23 | 9 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 2:33.046 | 3.713 |
| 24 | 28 | Kevin TSE Wing Kin |  |
Teamwork Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS | 9 | 2:34.551 | 5.218 |
| 25 | 8 | Norbert NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 3 | 2:35.265 | 5.932 |
| 26 | 89 | André COUTO | |
MacPro Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 8 | 2:35.325 | 5.992 |
| 27 | 66 | Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 3 | 2:35.378 | 6.045 |
| 28 | 36 | LO Kai Fung | |
Tian Shi Zuver Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 9 | 2:35.567 | 6.234 |
| 29 | 60 | Filipe Clemente DE SOUZA | |
Champ Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS | 8 | 2:35.812 | 6.479 |
| 30 | 6 | Rui VALENTE | |
PCT Racing Team | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 2:43.148 | 13.815 |
| 31 | 77 | LAM Kam San | |
Champ Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS | 8 | 2:46.188 | 16.855 |