Rob Huff claimed his first pole position with Zengő Motorsport in qualifying for the FIA World Touring Car Cup at the Hungaroring, comfortably beating Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia to the top time.
Having been in the top ten in both of the earlier practice sessions, Huff started qualifying in strong form, putting his CUPRA in fourth in Q1, just two tenths from the pace.
The Brit then found an additional second in Q2 to top the times by over half a second with the fastest lap of the weekend thus far.
Opting to go out second in Q3, Huff put in another strong lap to claim his first WTCR pole position since 2019 by just under three tenths of a second.
Urrutia put his Lynk & Co in second, having edged out home hero Norbert Michelisz, who was the fastest Hyundai driver in third, three-and-a-half tenths from pole.
Münnich Motorsport’s Néstor Girolami continued his strong Hungaroring form to end up as the best Honda driver in fourth, narrowly ahead of a frustrated Thed Björk in fifth, the Swede making it through to Q3 for the second successive event.
A flurry of late improvements in Q2 meant that Mikel Azcona failed to progress into the final part of qualifying, the CUPRA driver being just a tenth of a second away from the cut-off point.
Reigning champion Yann Ehrlacher put his Lynk & Co in seventh, just 0.014 seconds ahead of his Uncle and Cyan Racing team-mate Yvan Muller in eighth.
The top ten was completed by the Comtoyou Racing Audis of Frédéric Vervisch and Gilles Magnus, with the RS3 cars having been unable to replicate their impressive pace from practice.
Nevertheless, the result gives young Belgian Magnus the reverse-grid pole position for race one.
Nathanaël Berthon, who had been fastest in the earlier second practice session, could only find an additional three tenths of a second and was 11th, where he will start both of Sunday’s races, ahead of the second Honda of Esteban Guerrieri in 12th.
Several big names failed to progress beyond Q1, with Honda’s Tiago Monteiro in 13th, whilst championship leader Jean-Karl Vernay was a disappointing 16th, as six of the seven Hyundai Elantra cars failed to get out of the first part of qualifying.
Q3 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 79 |  |
Rob HUFF | Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 3 | 1:51.993 | – |
| 2 | 12 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 1:52.290 | 0.297 |
| 3 | 5 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 3 | 1:52.342 | 0.349 |
| 4 | 29 |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 1:52.534 | 0.541 |
| 5 | 11 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 1:52.538 | 0.545 |
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 79 | |
Rob HUFF | Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 5 | 1:51.528 | – |
| 2 | 5 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:52.084 | 0.556 |
| 3 | 11 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | 1:52.193 | 0.665 |
| 4 | 29 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 1:52.198 | 0.670 |
| 5 | 12 | |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | 1:52.205 | 0.677 |
| 6 | 96 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 5 | 1:52.278 | 0.750 |
| 7 | 68 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | 1:52.325 | 0.797 |
| 8 | 100 | |
Yvan MULLER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | 1:52.339 | 0.811 |
| 9 | 22 |  |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:52.393 | 0.865 |
| 10 | 16 | |
Gilles MAGNUS | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:52.522 | 0.994 |
| 11 | 17 | |
Nathanaël BERTHON | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 4 | 1:52.533 | 1.005 |
| 12 | 86 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 5 | 1:52.732 | 1.204 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 96 | |
Mikel AZCONA | Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 7 | 1:52.284 | – |
| 2 | 16 | |
Gilles MAGNUS | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 6 | 1:52.510 | 0.226 |
| 3 | 12 | |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 7 | 1:52.513 | 0.229 |
| 4 | 79 | |
Rob HUFF | Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | 1:52.514 | 0.230 |
| 5 | 29 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 7 | 1:52.559 | 0.275 |
| 6 | 11 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 7 | 1:52.567 | 0.283 |
| 7 | 22 | |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:52.619 | 0.335 |
| 8 | 86 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 8 | 1:52.749 | 0.465 |
| 9 | 68 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 7 | 1:52.792 | 0.508 |
| 10 | 17 | |
Nathanaël BERTHON | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:52.794 | 0.510 |
| 11 | 100 | |
Yvan MULLER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 7 | 1:52.799 | 0.515 |
| 12 | 5 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:52.811 | 0.527 |
| 13 | 18 |  |
Tiago MONTEIRO | ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 8 | 1:52.843 | 0.559 |
| 14 | 9 | |
Attila TASSI | ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 9 | 1:52.946 | 0.662 |
| 15 | 8 |  |
Luca ENGSTLER | Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:53.100 | 0.816 |
| 16 | 69 | |
Jean-Karl VERNAY | Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:53.224 | 0.940 |
| 17 | 3 |  |
Gabriele TARQUINI | BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:53.368 | 1.084 |
| 18 | 32 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:53.700 | 1.416 |
| 19 | 28 | |
Jordi GENÉ | Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | 1:53.733 | 1.449 |
| 20 | 26 | |
Jessica BÄCKMAN | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:53.960 | 1.676 |
| 21 | 82 | |
Nicola BALDAN | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:54.072 | 1.788 |
| 22 | 55 | |
Bence BOLDIZS | Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | 1:54.205 | 1.921 |
| 23 | 19 | |
Andreas BÄCKMAN | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | No time | N/A |