Thed Björk posted the fastest time in qualifying for the FIA TCR World Tour at the Inje Speedium circuit in South Korea, but it will be Josh Buchan starting from pole position after Björk was penalised for an incident in Q1.
On a wet circuit, Björk was just third fastest in Q1, lapping the circuit seven tenths slower than pace-setter Esteban Guerrieri, but the Cyan Racing driver found more than a second in Q2 to top the times with an effort of 1 minute 51.698 seconds.
The Lynk & Co driver ended up more than half a second quicker than HMO Customer Racing’s Buchan in the all important final part, scoring his first pole of the season, but it will be reigning TCR Australia champion Buchan who starts from pole in Saturday’s first race, after Björk was given a three-place grid penalty for an incident with TCR Asia’s Reinghbert G. Diwa in Q1.
Björk still gets to keep his maximum 15 points score from qualifying, but the penalty will also see Cyan Racing team-mates Yann Ehrlacher and Ma Qing Hua promoted to second and third on the grid respectively. Ma had been over a second and a half slower than Björk in the wet session.
Crucially for Ehrlacher, third in qualifying gives him an additional six points over title rival Guerrieri, who was only sixth in Q2, the GOAT Racing driver more than two seconds off the pace.
Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia qualified ahead of Guerrieri in fifth, meaning all four Lynk & Cos were in the top five places.
SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte, racing the only CUPRA in the field, was seventh quickest.
The top ten was completed by Hyundais, but it was South Korean Solite Indigo Racing duo Junesung Park and Junui Park, in eighth and ninth respectively, ahead of the BRC Racing Elantra of Mikel Azcona in tenth.
This weekend’s format does not see the qualifying result determine the grid for the reverse-grid race on Sunday, with the top ten result in race one later on Saturday deciding the grid for Sunday’s second race, with the top ten reversed.
BRC Racing’s Néstor Girolami failed to get out of Q1, qualifying in 11th as the BRC trio struggled with handling issues, ahead of GOAT Racing duo Ignacio Montenegro and Dušan Borković in 12th and 13th respectively in their Honda Civics.
Norbert Michelisz was only 14th in his Hyundai, a disappointing result at the manufacturers’ home race.
KMSA Motorsport’s Choi Jeong Weon was the leading driver in the TCR Asia part of the field, benefitting from a new engine to go 16th quickest in his Hyundai, ahead of the Honda of Diego Moran in 17th.
Q1 had to be red-flagged briefly when TCR Asia’s Reinghbert G. Diwa spin off at Turn 15.
Race 1 is scheduled to get underway at 16:05 local time (08:05 BST, 09:05 CEST).
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 4 | 1:51.698 | – |
| 2 | 30 |  |
Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 2 | 1:52.239 | 0.541 |
| 3 | 168 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 4 | 1:52.470 | 0.772 |
| 4 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 4 | 1:53.313 | 1.615 |
| 5 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 4 | 1:53.469 | 1.771 |
| 6 | 186 |  |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 3 | 1:53.725 | 2.027 |
| 7 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 4 | 1:54.086 | 2.388 |
| 8 | 97 |  |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 2 | 1:54.609 | 2.911 |
| 9 | 87 | |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 3 | 1:55.441 | 3.743 |
| 10 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 4 | 1:58.393 | 6.695 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 7 | 1:52.050 | – |
| 2 | 112 | |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 8 | 1:52.567 | 0.517 |
| 3 | 111 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | 1:52.802 | 0.752 |
| 4 | 30 | |
Josh BUCHAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | 1:52.909 | 0.859 |
| 5 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 6 | 1:52.930 | 0.880 |
| 6 | 155 | |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 8 | 1:53.510 | 1.460 |
| 7 | 196 | |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:53.599 | 1.549 |
| 8 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 7 | 1:53.803 | 1.753 |
| 9 | 97 | |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | 1:53.811 | 1.761 |
| 10 | 87 | |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | 1:54.023 | 1.973 |
| 11 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | 1:54.081 | 2.031 |
| 12 | 123 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 1:54.438 | 2.388 |
| 13 | 62 |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 1:54.474 | 2.424 |
| 14 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:54.959 | 2.909 |
| 15 | 5 | |
Ryan MACMILLAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | 1:55.208 | 3.158 |
| 16 | 3 | |
CHOI Jeongweon | KMSA Motorsport N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | 1:55.312 | 3.262 |
| 17 | 23 |  |
Diego MORAN | DM23 Ecuador Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 7 | 1:55.346 | 3.296 |
| 18 | 281 |  |
LO Sze Ho | Evolve Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | 1:55.372 | 3.322 |
| 19 | 288 |  |
Sean CHANG Chien Shang | RevX Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 1:56.181 | 4.131 |
| 20 | 56 |  |
Benny SANTOSO | Z Speed Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | 1:56.975 | 4.925 |
| 21 | 381 |  |
Reinghbert G. DIWA | Eurasia Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:57.605 | 5.555 |
| 22 | 69 | |
Andy LIANG Wenyao | Eurasia Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 6 | 1:59.252 | 7.202 |