Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Szymon Ładniak claimed pole position for the opening ADAC TCR Germany race of the weekend at the Salzburgring, beating team-mate Martin Andersen by two tenths of a second.
Having topped both of Friday’s practice sessions, Ładniak once again continued his dominance at the Austrian circuit on Saturday morning.
The Pole put in a lap time of 1 minute 25.551 seconds to beat Honda team-mate Andersen by 0.197 seconds.
“I had a clear head during my lap and was completely in the zone”, said Ładniak. “P1 is the only goal for the race.”
Ładniak and Andersen controversially clashed last time out at the Red Bull Ring, throwing away a victory for the team. He is confident of no repeat this weekend.
“We talked about what happened at the Red Bull Ring and everything is fine. We are teammates and we are walking this path together.”
René Kircher, whose season was dealt a blow with a non-start in race two at the Red Bull Ring, was the best Hyundai driver in third, just under half a second off the pace.
Robin Jahr followed his ROJA Motorsport team0mate in fourth, ahead of Jonas Karklys in fifth in his Hyundai i30.
Last time’s double winner Jessica Bäckman was sixth fastest, but she was over a second off the pace in her Hyundai Veloster.
Vincent Radermecker put his Opel Astra in seventh, with Patrick Sing’s Hyundai, Roland Hertner’s Honda and Max Gruhn’s new Audi completing the top ten.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 14:15 CEST (13:15 BST).
Qualifying results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 21 |  |
Szymon ŁADNIAK | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 11 | 1:25.551 | – |
| 2 | 19 |  |
Martin ANDERSEN | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 9 | 1:25.748 | 0.197 |
| 3 | 8 |  |
René KIRCHER | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 1:26.007 | 0.456 |
| 4 | 22 | |
Robin JAHR | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai Veloster N TCR | 10 | 1:26.219 | 0.668 |
| 5 | 27 |  |
Jonas KARKLYS | NordPass | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:26.634 | 1.083 |
| 6 | 26 |  |
Jessica BÄCKMAN | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai Veloster N TCR | 5 | 1:26.960 | 1.409 |
| 7 | 11 |  |
Vincent RADERMECKER | maurer motorsport | Holden Astra TCR | 11 | 1:27.591 | 2.040 |
| 8 | 34 | |
Patrick SING | RaceSing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:27.602 | 2.051 |
| 9 | 9 | |
Roland HERTNER | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 1:27.635 | 2.084 |
| 10 | 13 | |
Max GRUHN | Gruhn Stahlbau Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 12 | 1:27.719 | 2.168 |
| 11 | 38 | |
Kai ROSOWSKI | K-Ro Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 1:29.497 | 3.946 |
| 12 | 17 |  |
Michael MAURER | maurer motorsport | Holden Astra TCR | 11 | 1:30.992 | 5.441 |