JSB Compétition’s Julien Briché smashed the lap record in qualifying for the TCR Europe series at Monza, securing pole position ahead of fellow Peugeot racer Aurélien Comte as points leader Josh Files was just ninth.
Briché and Comte worked together in qualifying to provide each other with a slipstream around the high-speed Italian circuit, with Briché ultimately ending up fastest with a lap of 1 minute 56.308 seconds to score his first pole in the series.
Such was the pace of the Peugeot 308 duo that no one else was able to break the 1 minute 57 seconds barrier, with Comte ultimately ending up over four tenths adrift of his compatriot in second.
The Team WRT Audi of Santiago Urrutia was third fastest, over eight tenths back, ahead of fellow Audi starter and TCR Europe guest entry Klim Gavrilov in fourth, the Russian being the only other driver within a second of the pace.
Teddy Clairet put his Peugeot 308 in fifth for race one, ahead of the leading Honda of Brutal Fish Racing’s Dan Lloyd in sixth.
WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli was a surprise seventh, with the Volkswagen generally considered to be an unfavourable car around Monza.
Comtoyou Racing’s Gilles Magnus made it three Audis in the top ten in eighth.
Completing the top ten and securing the reverse grid front row for Sunday’s second race were series leader Josh Files in the best of the Hyundais in ninth, and Team WRT’s Maxime Potty in tenth.
Briché has thus taken five points out of Files’ points lead, leaving the gap between the title protagonists at 43 points ahead of race one later on Saturday.
Completing the Q2 times were the leading CUPRA of John Filippin in 11th and the second Target Competition Hyundai of Andreas Bäckman, who went off into the gravel at Turn 5 on his last flying lap and was thus unable to improve.
Qualifying marked a significant change in fortunes for the Hyundai customers, who had dominated Friday’s running with the top six and top four times in first and second practice respectively.
Q1 saw a red flag after seven minutes of running when Vuković Motorsport’s Guilherme Salas went off into the gravel at Turn 8, which in turn scuppered many teams attempts to have drivers carry out slipstreaming runs to boost their times.
Jimmy Clairet just missed out on entry into Q2, but he qualified his Peugeot in 13th and ensured that all of the 308s are in the top half of the grid.
TCR Europe newcomer Josh Burdon was an impressive 14th in the second quickest of the four-car Brutal Fish line-up, ahead of BRC Racing’s Luca Filippi in 15th and newcomer Sami Taoufik in 16th.
Race one gets underway at 16:50 CEST (15:50 BST).
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ |  |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 4 | 1:56.308 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 3 | 1:56.754 | 0.446 |
| 3 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:57.132 | 0.824 |
| 4 | 14 | Klim GAVRILOV |  |
VRC Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:57.241 | 0.933 |
| 5 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 4 | 1:57.373 | 1.065 |
| 6 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 5 | 1:57.385 | 1.077 |
| 7 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 1:57.386 | 1.078 |
| 8 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:57.641 | 1.333 |
| 9 | 9 | Josh FILES | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 1:57.729 | 1.421 |
| 10 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 1:57.813 | 1.505 |
| 11 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 5 | 1:57.853 | 1.545 |
| 12 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 1:57.891 | 1.583 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 7 | 1:56.547 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 8 | 1:56.732 | 0.185 |
| 3 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 1:57.135 | 0.588 |
| 4 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA | |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:57.358 | 0.811 |
| 5 | 14 | Klim GAVRILOV | |
VRC Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:57.371 | 0.824 |
| 6 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 1:57.417 | 0.870 |
| 7 | 9 | Josh FILES | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:57.661 | 1.114 |
| 8 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:57.672 | 1.125 |
| 9 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 1:57.910 | 1.363 |
| 10 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:57.947 | 1.400 |
| 11 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 1:57.970 | 1.423 |
| 12 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 1:57.977 | 1.430 |
| 13 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 1:58.029 | 1.482 |
| 14 | 22 | Josh BURDON |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 1:58.029 | 1.482 |
| 15 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:58.098 | 1.551 |
| 16 | 15 | Sami TAOUFIK |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:58.147 | 1.600 |
| 17 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:58.236 | 1.689 |
| 18 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:58.420 | 1.873 |
| 19 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 7 | 1:58.445 | 1.898 |
| 20 | 96 | Abdulla Ali AL-KHELAIFI |  |
QMMF Racing by PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 1:58.450 | 1.903 |
| 21 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 1:58.501 | 1.954 |
| 22 | 25 | Natan BIHEL | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:58.519 | 1.972 |
| 23 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 8 | 1:58.558 | 2.011 |
| 24 | 58 | Dominik BAUMANN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:58.560 | 2.013 |
| 25 | 91 | Grigoriy BURLUTSKIY | |
Carville Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 1:58.897 | 2.350 |
| 26 | 23 | Tamás TENKE |  |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 1:59.074 | 2.527 |
| 27 | 46 | Olli KANGAS |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 1:59.113 | 2.566 |
| 28 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 1:59.181 | 2.634 |
| 29 | 85 | Guilherme SALAS |  |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 2 | 1:59.335 | 2.788 |
| 30 | 21 | Marie BAUS-COPPENS | |
JSB Compétition | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:00.297 | 3.750 |
| 31 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 11 | 2:00.433 | 3.886 |
| 32 | 117 | Albert LEGUTKO |  |
Legutko Racing – ADAC Berlin | Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR | 10 | 2:01.012 | 4.465 |
| 33 | 18 | Paul IP Kung Ching |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 2:02.944 | 6.397 |