Mikel Azcona kept the BRC Racing Hyundai cars at the front in qualifying for the opening round of the FIA TCR World Tour at Misano, edging out team-mate Norbert Michelisz by 0.034 seconds.
Azcona had laid down the gauntlet on his first flying lap in Q2, with his time of 1 minute 39.622 seconds ultimately standing until the chequered flag.
Two-time TCR World Tour champion Michelisz will thus join him on the front-row of the grid, continuing the impressive pace set by the South Korean cars, which topped both of Friday’s practice sessions as well.
Geely Cyan Racing will occupy the second row of the grid on the début of its new Geely Preface TCR car, with reigning champion Yann Ehrlacher in third, ahead of Santiago Urrutia in fourth.
Thed Björk made it three Cyan Geely cars in a row with fifth fastest, the Swede being just over half a second off the pace of the Hyundais.
ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt, who had set the pace in Q1, was the best of the weekend’s guest entries in sixth and also the top Honda driver, three quarters of a second off the pace.
SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte put his CUPRA in seventh, ahead of fellow Frenchman Julien Briché in eighth for his self-run JSB Compétition team.
The top ten was completed by Cyan Racing’s Ma Qing Hua and BRC Racing’s Gabriele Covini. Should Ma be able to post the fastest lap in race one he would gain the reverse-grid pole position for race two, under the TCR World Tour’s new sporting rule which rewards the fastest lap driver in race one with a one-place grid boost for race two. Otherwise, Covini will retain pole.
ALM Motorsport’s Jenson Brickley missed out on the reverse-grid pole by six tenths of a second with the 11th-best time, whilst GOAT Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri rounded out the top ten after failing to post a time in Q2.
Race one gets underway at 16:20 CEST (15:20 BST).
Q2 result
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR | 3 | 1:39.622 | – |
| 2 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR | 3 | 1:39.656 | 0.034 |
| 3 | 168 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 4 | 1:39.788 | 0.166 |
| 4 | 181 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 4 | 1:40.031 | 0.409 |
| 5 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 4 | 1:40.127 | 0.505 |
| 6 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 3 | 1:40.386 | 0.764 |
| 7 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 4 | 1:40.444 | 0.822 |
| 8 | 24 | |
Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 4 | 1:40.563 | 0.941 |
| 9 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 3 | 1:40.600 | 0.978 |
| 10 | 12 |  |
Gabriele COVINI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 4 | 1:41.077 | 1.455 |
| 11 | 246 |  |
Jenson BRICKLEY | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 5 | 1:41.686 | 2.064 |
| 12 | 186 |  |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 2 | No time | N/A |
Q1 result
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 27 | |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 1:39.958 | – |
| 2 | 105 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR | 7 | 1:40.197 | 0.239 |
| 3 | 181 | |
Santiago URRUTIA | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 7 | 1:40.231 | 0.273 |
| 4 | 196 | |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR | 7 | 1:40.260 | 0.302 |
| 5 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 7 | 1:40.313 | 0.355 |
| 6 | 111 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 7 | 1:40.327 | 0.369 |
| 7 | 155 | |
MA Qing Hua | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 8 | 1:40.367 | 0.409 |
| 8 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Geely Cyan Racing | Geely Preface TCR | 7 | 1:40.448 | 0.490 |
| 9 | 12 | |
Gabriele COVINI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:40.462 | 0.504 |
| 10 | 246 | |
Jenson BRICKLEY | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 1:40.521 | 0.563 |
| 11 | 24 | |
Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | 1:40.555 | 0.597 |
| 12 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 8 | 1:40.662 | 0.704 |
| 13 | 169 | |
Jean-Karl VERNAY | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 1:40.764 | 0.806 |
| 14 | 120 | |
Teddy CLAIRET | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 1:40.800 | 0.842 |
| 15 | 10 | |
Viktor ANDERSSON | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 1:40.887 | 0.929 |
| 16 | 72 | |
Ramiro ZAGO | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 1:41.374 | 1.416 |
| 17 | 81 | |
Damiano REDUZZI | Trico WRT | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:41.400 | 1.442 |
| 18 | 145 | |
Raphaël FOURNIER | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 3 | 1:41.622 | 1.664 |