Yann Ehrlacher continued his dominance of the times in the TCR World Tour and TCR South America qualifying session at La Pedrera, the Cyan Racing driver beating BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz to pole on the Villa Mercedes street circuit.
Qualifying took place on a damp and drying circuit, with the Hyundai of Mikel Azcona topping Q1 early on with an effort of 1 minute 46.763 seconds – the first time all weekend that it hasn’t been Ehrlacher on top at the conclusion of a session.
However, Ehrlacher, who had been fourth in Q1, hit back in Q2, which took place on an increasingly wet and slippery circuit.
The Frenchman ultimately claimed pole by two tenths of a second from Michelisz, who will line up on the front row of the grid for Saturday’s opening race.
Azcona was third, a further tenth adrift, and will be joined on the second row of the grid by the leading Comtoyou Racing Audi of Rob Huff, who put in a weekend-best performance.
Cyan Racing duo Santiago Urrutia and Ma Qing Hua were fifth and sixth fastest respectively, with the fourth Cyan Lynk & Co of Thed Björk immediately behind them in seventh, albeit over two seconds adrift of his team-mate’s pace.
However, Urrutia will start at the back of the grid for the opening race due to an engine change penalty.
Frédéric Vervisch put his Audi in eighth, whilst the top ten was initially completed by Brazilians Pedro Cardoso and Raphael Reis, with Cardoso leading the TCR South America contingent.
Reis would thus have claimed the reverse-grid pole for Sunday’s second race, but following qualifying the W2 Pro GP CUPRA driver was thrown out of the result after the ground clearance on his car was found to not conform with the required 70 mm.
That promoted Squadra Martino’s Néstor Girolami to tenth, whilst Paladini Racing’s Fabián Yannantuoni moved up one place to 11th.
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 | 1:53.872 | – |
| 2 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:54.103 | 0.231 |
| 3 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 4 | 1:54.246 | 0.374 |
| 4 | 179 |  |
Rob HUFF | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 5 | 1:54.817 | 0.945 |
| 5 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 4 | 1:54.870 | 0.998 |
| 6 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 4 | 1:55.459 | 1.587 |
| 7 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 4 | 1:55.934 | 2.062 |
| 8 | 122 |  |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 4 | 1:56.574 | 2.702 |
| 9 | 43 |  |
Pedro CARDOSO | Scuderia Chiarelli | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 3 | 1:58.557 | 4.685 |
| 10 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 3 | 2:01.410 | 7.538 |
| 11 | 129 |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | Squadra Martino Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 3 | 2:02.353 | 8.481 |
| 12 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 3 | 2:02.576 | 8.704 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 196 | |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | 1:46.763 | – |
| 2 | 155 | |
MA Qing Hua | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 8 | 1:47.078 | 0.315 |
| 3 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | Squadra Martino Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 6 | 1:47.524 | 0.761 |
| 4 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 7 | 1:47.878 | 1.115 |
| 5 | 111 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 8 | 1:47.983 | 1.220 |
| 6 | 112 | |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 8 | 1:48.081 | 1.318 |
| 7 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | Scuderia Chiarelli | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:48.298 | 1.535 |
| 8 | 122 | |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 1:48.584 | 1.821 |
| 9 | 179 | |
Rob HUFF | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 1:48.972 | 2.209 |
| 10 | 105 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:49.013 | 2.250 |
| 11 | 5 | |
Fabián YANNANTUONI | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 7 | 1:49.050 | 2.287 |
| 12 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | 1:49.109 | 2.346 |
| 13 | 17 | |
Bernardo LLAVER | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 8 | 1:49.418 | 2.655 |
| 14 | 22 | |
Matías MILLA | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 1:49.517 | 2.754 |
| 15 | 2 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 8 | 1:49.564 | 2.801 |
| 16 | 70 | |
Diego NUNES | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 8 | 1:49.963 | 3.200 |
| 17 | 23 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 8 | 1:50.907 | 4.144 |
| 18 | 28 | |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | 1:50.938 | 4.175 |
| 19 | 33 | |
José Manuel SAPAG | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 8 | 1:52.287 | 5.524 |
| 20 | 86 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | Bratton Tito Bessone Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 7 | 1:53.186 | 6.423 |
| 21 | 24 | |
Frederick BALBI | PMO Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 7 | 1:53.385 | 6.622 |
| 22 | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:53.437 | 6.674 |
| 23 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 5 | 1:54.010 | 7.247 |
| 24 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 7 | 1:55.951 | 9.188 |
| 25 | 10 | |
Adalberto BAPTISTA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 7 | 1:56.126 | 9.363 |