Target Competition’s Andreas Bäckman scored his second consecutive pole position in TCR Europe at a wet Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Torrential rainfall earlier in the morning made the 2.89-mile Catalan circuit an entirely different proposition; Bäckman’s eventual pole time was the best part of 20 seconds slower than the equivalent benchmark in free practice.
That time – a 2:12.123s – was enough to pip Target team mate Josh Files by 0.325 seconds.
The Brit will be plenty happy with a front-row start, however, as it puts him in front of chief title rivals Julien Briche (third) and Luca Engstler (twelfth) heading into the opening race.
The VAG Group cars – specifically the Audi RS 3 LMS and Volkswagen Golf GTI – had been tipped as the ‘form’ cars ahead of the session, but their pace ultimately waned in the wet, the highest-placed among them Santiago Urrutia in fourth.
The Peugeot 308, by contrast, looked assured in the damp-drying conditions, with siblings Jimmy and Teddy Clairet securing fifth and sixth for Team Clairet Sport.
Renault UK Clio Cup title contender Jack Young made a impressive start to life in the category, putting the Renault Megane eighth behind Tom Coronel’s Boutsen Ginion Honda.
He had been under investigation during Q1 for an incident with Robin Vaks, but no further action was taken.
Practice pace-setter Gilles Magnus was ninth on his first wet-weather run in the Audi, with Brutal Fish Racing’s Dan Lloyd rounding out the top ten – and therefore securing the reverse-grid pole position for race two – just behind.
That left Hyundai pairing Dominik Baumann and a frustrated Engstler to round out the top twelve.
Nelson Panciatici was unlucky to miss out on the second part of qualifying, the Frenchman just 0.050s shy of Bäckman – then 12th in Q1 – on his final flying effort.
Oschersleben race-winner Alex Morgan will be disappointed with 14th in the CUPRA, Andreas’ sibling Jessica Bäckman ended the session 16th.
Gianni Morbidelli had earlier told TouringCars.net he was aiming for silverware to cap off a mixed year for WestCoast Racing. Starting 21st, that now looks an uphill task for the Italian.
He starts just ahead of another driver out of position, Mat’o Homola, the Slovakian only 22nd.
The opening race of the weekend gets underway at 17:20 CEST.
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 2:12.123 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 9 | Josh FILES |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 2:12.448 | 0.325 |
| 3 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ |  |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 4 | 2:12.734 | 0.611 |
| 4 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 4 | 2:12.896 | 0.773 |
| 5 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 3 | 2:13.334 | 1.211 |
| 6 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 3 | 2:13.424 | 1.301 |
| 7 | 50 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 4 | 2:13.581 | 1.458 |
| 8 | 100 | Jack YOUNG | |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 5 | 2:13.636 | 1.513 |
| 9 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 4 | 2:13.737 | 1.614 |
| 10 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 3 | 2:13.784 | 1.661 |
| 11 | 58 | Dominik BAUMANN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:14.439 | 2.316 |
| 12 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:14.709 | 2.586 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA | |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 2:12.887 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 8 | 2:13.046 | 0.159 |
| 3 | 9 | Josh FILES | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 2:13.326 | 0.439 |
| 4 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 8 | 2:13.347 | 0.460 |
| 5 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 2:13.409 | 0.522 |
| 6 | 100 | Jack YOUNG | |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 9 | 2:13.736 | 0.849 |
| 7 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 2:13.748 | 0.861 |
| 8 | 58 | Dominik BAUMANN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 2:13.885 | 0.998 |
| 9 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 2:13.966 | 1.079 |
| 10 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 2:13.967 | 1.080 |
| 11 | 50 | Tom CORONEL | |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 8 | 2:14.062 | 1.175 |
| 12 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:14.165 | 1.278 |
| 13 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 2:14.215 | 1.328 |
| 14 | 5 | Alex MORGAN | |
Wolf-Power Racing | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:14.412 | 1.525 |
| 15 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 8 | 2:14.631 | 1.744 |
| 16 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:14.743 | 1.856 |
| 17 | 226 | Francisco MORA |  |
Veloso Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:14.807 | 1.920 |
| 18 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 8 | 2:14.928 | 2.041 |
| 19 | 67 | Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:15.016 | 2.129 |
| 20 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:15.048 | 2.161 |
| 21 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 8 | 2:15.198 | 2.311 |
| 22 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:15.237 | 2.350 |
| 23 | 46 | Olli KANGAS |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 2:15.531 | 2.644 |
| 24 | 25 | Natan BIHEL | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:15.972 | 3.085 |
| 25 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:15.991 | 3.104 |
| 26 | 21 | Marie BAUS-COPPENS | |
JSB Compétition | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:16.446 | 3.559 |
| 27 | 23 | Tamás TENKE | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:16.664 | 3.777 |
| 28 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 8 | 2:16.912 | 4.025 |
| 29 | 204 | Robin VAKS |  |
ALM Honda Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 2:17.203 | 4.316 |
| 30 | 216 | Evgeni LEONOV |  |
Tecnicars Racing Team | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:17.487 | 4.600 |
| 31 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 8 | 2:17.707 | 4.820 |
| 32 | 223 | Mattias VAHTEL | |
ALM Honda Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 2:17.902 | 5.015 |
| 33 | 66 | Gilles COLOMBANI | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 2:18.816 | 5.929 |
| 34 | 224 | Gustavo MOURA | |
Team Novadriver | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 7 | 2:18.897 | 6.010 |
| 35 | 96 | Abdulla Ali AL-KHELAIFI |  |
QMMF Racing by PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 8 | 2:20.048 | 7.161 |