Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher took pole position for the joint TCR World Tour / TCR Europe event at the Hungaroring, beating ALM Motorsport’s Néstor Girolami by just over a tenth of a second.
Ehrlacher has been consistently close to the front all weekend thus far in Hungary, ending up third quickest in Friday’s first practice session before topping a wet second practice later in the day.
The Frenchman continued that form on Saturday, posting the second quickest time in Q1, just 0.05 seconds shy of Girolami, before going on to top the all-important Q2 session with a lap of 1 minute 52.219 seconds, three tenths quicker than in the first part of qualifying.
Ehrlacher had also been quickest on his first Q2 run with a time of 1:52.289, which would also have been good enough for pole, but he ultimately went even quicker on his second flying lap in the 10-minute part of the session.
Girolami likewise has been in the top three all weekend and secured second with his best qualifying performance of the year so far in the new Honda Civic Type-R FL5.
In fact, the top three drivers on Friday also proved to be the top three on Saturday morning, with Cyan Racing’s Ma Qing Hua qualifying his Lynk & Co in third, just over half a second off the pace of his team-mate.
BRC Racing’s Mikel Azcona was the best of the Hyundai contingent once again in fourth, the last driver within a second of the pace, ahead of team-mate Norbert Michelisz in fifth – the duo had been the other way around in Q1.
Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia was sixth, having failed to match his Q1 pace, which would have put him a position higher.
The leading TCR Europe competitor was MA:GP’s Viktor Andersson in an impressive seventh in the pre-facelifted Lynk & Co, the Swede over a second and a half from pole, however.
Frédéric Vervisch was the best of the Audis in eighth, as the Comtoyou Racing drivers continued to struggle to get to within even a second of the top of the times this weekend.
The top ten was completed by Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk and Target Competition’s Dušan Borković, with the latter thus claiming the reverse-grid pole for Sunday’s second race, which will see Björk start alongside.
Missing out on the grid reversal were ALM’s Ruben Volt, making his TCR World Tour début but suffering in Q2 from a lap time removed for exceeding track limits, and Comtoyou’s Rob Huff, who ended up over two seconds off the pace after also seeing his best lap deleted for exceeding the track limits.
TCR Europe points leader Tom Coronel struggled for pace and missed out on Q2 altogether, qualifying his Audi in 13th, ahead of team-mate Kobe Pauwels in 14th.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 17:05 CEST (16:05 BST).
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 168 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 5 | 1:52.219 | – |
| 2 | 129 |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 6 | 1:52.362 | 0.143 |
| 3 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 6 | 1:52.761 | 0.542 |
| 4 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:53.126 | 0.907 |
| 5 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:53.427 | 1.208 |
| 6 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 5 | 1:53.680 | 1.461 |
| 7 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | 1:53.748 | 1.529 |
| 8 | 122 |  |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 5 | 1:53.775 | 1.556 |
| 9 | 111 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 6 | 1:54.106 | 1.887 |
| 10 | 62 |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | 1:54.153 | 1.934 |
| 11 | 127 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 5 | 1:54.305 | 2.086 |
| 12 | 179 |  |
Rob HUFF | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 6 | 1:54.339 | 2.120 |
Q1 result
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 1:52.510 | – |
| 2 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 6 | 1:52.560 | 0.050 |
| 3 | 155 | |
MA Qing Hua | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | 1:52.806 | 0.296 |
| 4 | 112 | |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 7 | 1:53.303 | 0.793 |
| 5 | 105 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:53.465 | 0.955 |
| 6 | 196 | |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:53.582 | 1.072 |
| 7 | 111 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 8 | 1:53.712 | 1.202 |
| 8 | 10 | |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 1:53.740 | 1.230 |
| 9 | 122 | |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 1:53.850 | 1.340 |
| 10 | 127 | |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 7 | 1:53.907 | 1.397 |
| 11 | 179 | |
Rob HUFF | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 7 | 1:53.959 | 1.449 |
| 12 | 62 | |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:54.085 | 1.575 |
| 13 | 34 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 1:54.375 | 1.865 |
| 14 | 22 | |
Kobe PAUWELS | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 1:54.402 | 1.892 |
| 15 | 31 |  |
Kevin CECCON | Aggressive Team Italia | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:54.516 | 2.006 |
| 16 | 27 | |
John FILIPPI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 1:54.589 | 2.079 |
| 17 | 11 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 1:54.856 | 2.346 |
| 18 | 264 | |
Levente LOSONCZY | Aggressive Team Italia | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:55.109 | 2.599 |
| 19 | 48 | |
Mikael KARLSSON | Aggressive Team Italia | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:55.370 | 2.860 |
| 20 | 39 | |
Lewis BROWN | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 1:55.472 | 2.962 |
| 21 | 7 |  |
Daniel TKACHENKO | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 1:56.346 | 3.836 |