Norbert Michelisz made it two out of two pole positions in qualifying for the second and third FIA World Touring Car Cup races in Sepang, with the Hyundai driver bagging a perfect ten points for his efforts on Friday.
Having earlier claimed pole position in the separate qualifying session for race one, Michelisz doubled up in the three-part second qualifying session, topping two of the three parts as he dominated the session.
It gives the BRC Racing driver a further five points, adding to the five he scored for taking pole for race one, extending his championship lead to 15 points over closest rival Esteban Guerrieri.
Münnich Motorsport’s Guerrieri limited the damage, though, as the Argentine put his Honda in second, immediately behind his rival for the final race of the season on Sunday.
PWR Racing’s Mikel Azcona once again qualified in the top five, placing his CUPRA infourth to go one place better than in the day’s earlier session.
Nicky Catsburg and Gabriele Tarquini ensured that Michelisz has his team-mates close by to support his title bid, as they qualified their Hyundais in fourth and fifth respectively.
Providing further backup to the Hyundai title bid is Augusto Farfus, who was the fastest driver to miss out on entry to Q3 and qualified in sixth.
Kevin Ceccon put his Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo in seventh, ahead of the leading Audi of Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch in eighth.
The reverse-grid for race two will see Team Mulsanne’s Ma Qing Hua, who qualified tenth, line up on pole position with Münnich Motorsport’s Néstor Girolami, who was ninth, alongside.
Having struggled for pace all day, things failed to improve for the Cyan Racing drivers. Title contender Yvan Muller was just 13th, having been dumped out of Q2 when Vervisch improved late-on.
Thed Björk could only manage 19th, almost a second and a half off the pace, as the Lynk & Co drivers blamed the compensation weight on board their cars for their lack of pace.
There is no track action at all on Saturday, with all three races taking place on Sunday. Race one gets underway at 15:15 local time (07:15 GMT, 08:15 CET).
Q3 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:13.141 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 3 | 2:13.925 | 0.784 |
| 3 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
PWR Racing | CUPRA TCR | 3 | 2:14.020 | 0.879 |
| 4 | 88 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:14.586 | 1.445 |
| 5 | 1 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:14.961 | 1.820 |
Q2 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:13.054 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 88 | Nicky CATSBURG | |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:13.235 | 0.181 |
| 3 | 1 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:13.508 | 0.454 |
| 4 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA | |
PWR Racing | CUPRA TCR | 3 | 2:13.539 | 0.485 |
| 5 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 3 | 2:13.644 | 0.590 |
| 6 | 8 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 3 | 2:13.734 | 0.680 |
| 7 | 31 | Kevin CECCON | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 4 | 2:13.816 | 0.762 |
| 8 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH |  |
Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 3 | 2:13.935 | 0.881 |
| 9 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 2 | 2:13.975 | 0.921 |
| 10 | 55 | Ma QING HUA |  |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 4 | 2:14.027 | 0.973 |
| 11 | 10 | Niels LANGEVELD | |
Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 2 | 2:14.212 | 1.158 |
| 12 | 9 | Attila TASSI | |
KCMG | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 3 | 2:14.346 | 1.292 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 88 | Nicky CATSBURG | |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:13.342 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:13.366 | 0.024 |
| 3 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA | |
PWR Racing | CUPRA TCR | 5 | 2:13.638 | 0.296 |
| 4 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 5 | 2:13.756 | 0.414 |
| 5 | 10 | Niels LANGEVELD | |
Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 6 | 2:13.856 | 0.514 |
| 6 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 4 | 2:13.869 | 0.527 |
| 7 | 1 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:13.915 | 0.573 |
| 8 | 8 | Augusto FARFUS | |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:13.919 | 0.577 |
| 9 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH | |
Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 6 | 2:14.112 | 0.770 |
| 10 | 31 | Kevin CECCON | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 5 | 2:14.183 | 0.841 |
| 11 | 9 | Attila TASSI | |
KCMG | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 5 | 2:14.191 | 0.849 |
| 12 | 55 | Ma QING HUA | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 6 | 2:14.344 | 1.002 |
| 13 | 100 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | 2:14.422 | 1.080 |
| 14 | 21 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing | CUPRA TCR | 5 | 2:14.505 | 1.163 |
| 15 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN |  |
Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 2:14.579 | 1.237 |
| 16 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
KCMG | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 5 | 2:14.610 | 1.268 |
| 17 | 50 | Tom CORONEL | |
Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing | CUPRA TCR | 5 | 2:14.719 | 1.377 |
| 18 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 4 | 2:14.799 | 1.457 |
| 19 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | 2:14.805 | 1.463 |
| 20 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 2:14.880 | 1.538 |
| 21 | 33 | Benjamin LEUCHTER |  |
SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 2:14.934 | 1.592 |
| 22 | 14 | Johan KRISTOFFERSSON | |
SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 2:14.940 | 1.598 |
| 23 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 2:14.973 | 1.631 |
| 24 | 37 | Daniel HAGLÖF | |
PWR Racing | CUPRA TCR | 6 | 2:15.009 | 1.667 |
| 25 | 38 | João Paulo Lima DE OLIVEIRA | |
KC Motorgroup | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 5 | 2:15.271 | 1.929 |
| 26 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 2:15.399 | 2.057 |
| 27 | 111 | Andy PRIAULX | |
Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 4 | 2:15.613 | 2.271 |
| 28 | 27 | Mitchell CHEAH Min Jie |  |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 2:15.647 | 2.305 |
| 29 | 15 | Hafizh SYAHRIN Bin Abdullah | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:16.406 | 3.064 |
| 30 | 65 | Douglas KHOO Kok Hui | |
Viper Niza Racing | CUPRA TCR | 7 | 2:21.251 | 7.909 |