GOAT Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri claimed pole position for the opening FIA TCR World Tour event of the season at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in México, beating Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher by just 0.072 seconds.
Guerrieri had earlier been the pace-setter in Thursday’s practice sessions, and the Honda driver continued to perform well at the high-altitude Mexican circuit, topping Q1 from Ehrlacher by a slender 0.027 seconds.
The Argentine then went even quicker in Q2, lapping the circuit in 1 minute 33.742 seconds to secure his maiden TCR World Tour pole position in the final seconds.
Ehrlacher was ahead of Lynk & Co team-mate Thed Björk, with the second GOAT Racing Honda of Ignacio Montenegro in fourth, 0.313 seconds slower than this team-mate.
Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia was fifth, ahead of the best CUPRA driven by SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte in sixth.
Ma Qing Hua was seventh in his Lynk & Co, with the leading local racer being Juli Rejón in eighth in his CUPRA.
The top ten was completed by SP Compétition’s John Filippi and the second ProRally Mothers CUPRA of local Mexican Rodrigo Rejón.
Only ten cars were permitted into Q2, but there is no reversal of the Q2 result to form the grid for any of this weekend’s races, with the grid for race two instead being formed by a reversal of the top ten in race one’s results.
Significantly, none of the BRC Racing Hyundai drivers progressed beyond Q1 – Norbert Michelisz was the best of the Elantra racers in 13th, behind TCR Mexico’s Michel Jourdain and Juan Pablo Sierra / Pablo Cervantes.
Race one is scheduled for 15:00 local time on Friday (22:00 BST, 23:00 CEST).
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 186 |  |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 5 | 1:33.742 | – |
| 2 | 168 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 5 | 1:33.814 | 0.072 |
| 3 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 5 | 1:33.932 | 0.190 |
| 4 | 123 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 5 | 1:34.055 | 0.313 |
| 5 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 5 | 1:34.105 | 0.363 |
| 6 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 4 | 1:34.267 | 0.525 |
| 7 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 5 | 1:34.296 | 0.554 |
| 8 | 1 |  |
Julio REJÓN | ProRally Mothers | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 4 | 1:35.071 | 1.329 |
| 9 | 127 | |
John FILIPPI | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 4 | 1:35.141 | 1.399 |
| 10 | 55 | |
Rodrigo REJÓN | ProRally Mothers | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 5 | 1:35.698 | 1.956 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 5 | 1:34.422 | – |
| 2 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 6 | 1:34.449 | 0.027 |
| 3 | 111 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 8 | 1:34.534 | 0.112 |
| 4 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 1:34.553 | 0.131 |
| 5 | 123 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 7 | 1:34.556 | 0.134 |
| 6 | 155 | |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | 1:34.569 | 0.147 |
| 7 | 112 | |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | 1:34.576 | 0.154 |
| 8 | 55 | |
Rodrigo REJÓN | ProRally Mothers | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 1:34.891 | 0.469 |
| 9 | 127 | |
John FILIPPI | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 10 | 1:35.074 | 0.652 |
| 10 | 1 | |
Julio REJÓN | ProRally Mothers | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 8 | 1:35.116 | 0.694 |
| 11 | 18 | |
Michael JOURDAIN | Peralta Racing Team | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 1:35.310 | 0.888 |
| 12 | 88 | |
SIERRA – CERVANTES | Centur Silen Petrol Racing | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 1:35.328 | 0.906 |
| 13 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:35.799 | 1.377 |
| 14 | 12 | |
NIETO – PÉREZ DE LARA – CHIRIGUT | RE Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:35.883 | 1.461 |
| 15 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:36.179 | 1.757 |
| 16 | 2 | |
CREEL – SANDOVAL | RE Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 10 | 1:36.213 | 1.791 |
| 17 | 34 | |
Carlo ZESATI | Zesati Racing VP Garage 34 | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 1:36.601 | 2.179 |
| 18 | 45 | |
ZANELLA – ZANELLA | Z Racing Team | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 8 | 1:37.249 | 2.827 |
| 19 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | 1:37.333 | 2.911 |
| 20 | 35 | |
ABED – DOMÍNGUEZ – ABED | Apycsa Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:37.546 | 3.124 |
| 21 | 33 | |
OREA – DÍAZ – SLOAN | Orea Ross Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:38.589 | 4.167 |
| 22 | 44 | |
César Tiberio JIMÉNEZ | Orangino Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:38.923 | 4.501 |
| 23 | 43 | |
ZESATI – ZESATI | Zesati Racing VP Garage 34 | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 1:39.763 | 5.341 |
| 24 | 7 | |
MONTOYA – HERNÁNDEZ – SÁNCHEZ | M&M Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 8 | 1:43.793 | 9.371 |