Santiago Urrutia scored pole position in qualifying for the FIA TCR World Tour in Valencia, qualifying ahead of Cyan Racing team-mates Yann Ehrlacher and Ma Qing Hua.
Friday’s practice pace-setter Mikel Azcona had topped the times in Q1, being the only driver to lap the Spanish circuit in the 1 minute 39 seconds range, but Urrutia was close by, the Uruguayan just three tenths of a second behind.
Ultimately, whilst Urrutia went on to find another tenth of a second in Q2, Azcona couldn’t get within eight tenths of his earlier time, leading to a first pole of the year for Urrutia.
“I dedicate this pole to my team,” said Urrutia. “We started the weekend with things not working very well, and my engineer was a little worried, but I said we can always turn things around.
“Once I set my first lap in Q1, it felt OK. I did a few laps yesterday and the tyres drop a lot here, the heat is quite high, and with 30 kg of Compensation Weight it is not easy. Let’s see if we can finish the job for today.”
Thed Björk was the only Cyan Racing driver not to progress beyond Q1, leaving the Swede in 11th on the grid for the opening race after struggling with his brakes on his Lynk & Co.
Ehrlacher qualified in second, a mere 0.033 seconds behind Urrutia, with Ma making it a top three lockout for the blue team.
GOAT Racing’s Ignacio Montenegro, who had topped the times in second practice on Friday, was the best of the Honda drivers in fourth, just under two tenths of a second off the pace.
Norbert Michelisz was the leading Hyundai driver in fifth, ahead of wildcard entrant Eric Gené in sixth, who put in a strong performance in the best of the CUPRAs run by Monlau Motorsport.
Like Gené, GOAT Racing’s Marco Butti is also a wildcard this weekend and was an impressive seventh on his return to the TCR World Tour, ahead of BRC Racing’s Azcona in eighth, SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte in ninth and BRC’s Néstor Girolami in tenth.
The reverse grid format for this weekend is not based on the qualifying result, but rather on the inverted top ten finishers in the opening race.
Behind 11th-placed Björk was ALM Motorsport’s wildcard entry Ruben Volt, who was the only other driver within a second of the pace in 12th.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 16:50 CEST (15:50 BST).
The first race of the weekend starts at 16:50 CEST today.
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 5 | 1:40.037 | – |
| 2 | 168 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 5 | 1:40.070 | 0.033 |
| 3 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 5 | 1:40.182 | 0.145 |
| 4 | 123 |  |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 5 | 1:40.233 | 0.196 |
| 5 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:40.364 | 0.327 |
| 6 | 28 |  |
Eric GENÉ Casanovas | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 6 | 1:40.552 | 0.515 |
| 7 | 11 |  |
Marco BUTTI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 5 | 1:40.605 | 0.568 |
| 8 | 196 | |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:40.613 | 0.576 |
| 9 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 5 | 1:40.764 | 0.727 |
| 10 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:40.871 | 0.834 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 196 | |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:39.830 | – |
| 2 | 112 | |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 7 | 1:40.140 | 0.310 |
| 3 | 155 | |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 5 | 1:40.146 | 0.316 |
| 4 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 8 | 1:40.151 | 0.321 |
| 5 | 11 | |
Marco BUTTI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 1:40.198 | 0.368 |
| 6 | 105 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | 1:40.209 | 0.379 |
| 7 | 123 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 1:40.289 | 0.459 |
| 8 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:40.319 | 0.489 |
| 9 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 1:40.339 | 0.509 |
| 10 | 28 | |
Eric GENÉ Casanovas | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 10 | 1:40.429 | 0.599 |
| 11 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 10 | 1:40.453 | 0.623 |
| 12 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 10 | 1:40.633 | 0.803 |
| 13 | 4 | |
Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:40.901 | 1.071 |
| 14 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 1:40.902 | 1.072 |
| 15 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 1:40.960 | 1.130 |
| 16 | 10 | |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 9 | 1:41.103 | 1.273 |
| 17 | 127 | |
John FILIPPI | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 10 | 1:41.336 | 1.506 |
| 18 | 45 | |
Raphaël FOURNIER | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:42.050 | 2.220 |