Mike Halder has claimed the first pole position of the TCR Europe season at the Autodromo do Algarve in Portugal, beating Halder Motorsport team-mate Jack Young by 0.127 seconds.
In the second part of qualifying, Halder claimed the top time with a few minutes to spare with his effort of 1 minute 51.244 seconds, marking the German’s first-ever pole position in the series.
Young was second in his Honda Civic, once again proving how the Northern Irishman, who has twice previously qualified on the front row in the series, has strong single lap pace.
Target Competition’s Nicola Baldan was the leading Hyundai driver in third, putting his Elantra N just 0.01 seconds further back.
Isidro Callejas was the fastest of the Volcano Motorsport CUPRA quartet, a late effort of 1:51.391 being just a further 0.01 seconds behind Young.
Callejas’ team-mate Klim Gavrilov had been top of the times early on in Q2, but the Russian couldn’t improve on his initial effort of 1:51.470 and ended up in fifth.
Franco Girolami, one of last year’s main title contenders, was sixth quickest in the best of the Comtoyou Racing Audis, the Argentine being 0.255 seconds from pole.
Dutchman Tom Coronel was directly behind his team-mate in seventh, ahead of Target’s Josh Files in eighth. The Brit had earlier topped the Q1 times with a lap of 1:51.350, but had been unable to replicate that pace in Q2 and ended up three tenths slower than earlier in the session.
The top ten was completed by Sébastien Loeb Racing’s John Filippi and Brutal Fish Racing’s Pepe Oriola.
Tenth for Oriola gives the Honda driver the reverse-grid pole position for race two, where he will have the CUPRA of Filippi starting alongside.
That meant that Janík Motorsport’s Mat’o Homola missed out on the top ten and will start from 11th for both races, ahead of team-mate Jáchym Galáš in 12th.
The third Target Hyundai of Felice Jelmini missed out on the chance to continue to Q2, leaving the Italian in 13th, ahead of Portuguese rookie Luís Cidade in 14th in the Audi entered under the satellite Comtoyou Racing banner.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 15:15 local time (15:15 BST, 16:15 CEST) and will be live streamed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saSIsbFlmg4.
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 7 |  |
Mike HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:51.244 | – |
| 2 | 62 |  |
Jack YOUNG | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:51.371 | 0.127 |
| 3 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:51.381 | 0.137 |
| 4 | 26 |  |
Isidro CALLEJAS | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 4 | 1:51.391 | 0.147 |
| 5 | 14 |  |
Klim GAVRILOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 4 | 1:51.470 | 0.226 |
| 6 | 72 |  |
Franco GIROLAMI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 4 | 1:51.499 | 0.255 |
| 7 | 33 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 4 | 1:51.563 | 0.319 |
| 8 | 99 | |
Josh FILES | Target Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:51.625 | 0.381 |
| 9 | 27 |  |
John FILIPPI | Sébastien Loeb Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 4 | 1:51.698 | 0.454 |
| 10 | 74 | |
Pepe ORIOLA | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 5 | 1:51.809 | 0.565 |
| 11 | 70 |  |
Mat’o HOMOLA | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | 1:51.871 | 0.627 |
| 12 | 24 |  |
Jáchym GALÁŠ | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:52.014 | 0.770 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 99 | |
Josh FILES | Target Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | 1:51.350 | – |
| 2 | 14 | |
Klim GAVRILOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | 1:51.366 | 0.016 |
| 3 | 72 | |
Franco GIROLAMI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 8 | 1:51.419 | 0.069 |
| 4 | 62 | |
Jack YOUNG | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 5 | 1:51.464 | 0.114 |
| 5 | 26 | |
Isidro CALLEJAS | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 9 | 1:51.500 | 0.150 |
| 6 | 33 | |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 5 | 1:51.527 | 0.177 |
| 7 | 27 | |
John FILIPPI | Sébastien Loeb Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | 1:51.538 | 0.188 |
| 8 | 70 | |
Mat’o HOMOLA | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:51.697 | 0.347 |
| 9 | 8 | |
Nicola BALDAN | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:51.740 | 0.390 |
| 10 | 74 | |
Pepe ORIOLA | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 10 | 1:51.774 | 0.424 |
| 11 | 24 | |
Jáchym GALÁŠ | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:51.855 | 0.505 |
| 12 | 7 | |
Mike HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 8 | 1:51.898 | 0.548 |
| 13 | 44 | |
Felice JELMINI | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:51.973 | 0.623 |
| 14 | 2 |  |
Luís CIDADE | Élite Motorsport by Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 9 | 1:52.106 | 0.756 |
| 15 | 53 | |
Michelle HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 8 | 1:52.326 | 0.976 |
| 16 | 110 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 8 | 1:52.409 | 1.059 |
| 17 | 16 | |
Evgenii LEONOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 9 | 1:52.595 | 1.245 |
| 18 | 17 | |
Martin RYBA | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 10 | 1:53.309 | 1.959 |
| 19 | 124 | |
Gustavo MOURA JR | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 9 | 1:53.562 | 2.212 |
| 20 | 3 | |
Giacomo GHERMANDI | Lema Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | 1:53.565 | 2.215 |
| 21 | 18 |  |
Miklas BORN | Élite Motorsport by Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 0 | No time | N/A |