SP Compétition’s Aurélien Comte claimed his maiden FIA TCR World Tour pole position in qualifying at Zhuzhou, edging out practice pace-setter Thed Björk by more than a quarter of a second.
Comte was quick out of the blocks in Q2, posting a time of 1 minute 44.306 seconds, having earlier been second fastest in Q1 in the field’s sole CUPRA.
The Frenchman thus claimed pole on his first visit to the Chinese circuit, with Cyan Racing’s Björk in second, closing in on the points lead in the process.
BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz was the top Hyundai driver in third, just under a tenth of a second further back, ahead of HMO Customer Racing’s Will Brown in fourth, with the Australian performing well on his return to TCR as a substitute driver.
Cyan Racing’s Ma Qing Hua, who won race two at the circuit last year, qualified his Lynk & Co in fifth, ahead of team-mate and championship leader Yann Ehrlacher in sixth.
Last year’s race one winner Mikel Azcona put his Hyundai in seventh, with GOAT Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri in eighth, the only Honda driver to break into Q2.
The top ten was completed by BRC Racing’s Néstor Girolami, the only other driver within a second of the pace, in ninth, and Evolve Racing’s Lo Sze Ho in tenth, the Hong Kong racer having broken into Q2 by going eighth earlier in Q1 in an impressive effort in his Hyundai.
Santiago Urrutia missed out on progression to Q2 after a late improvement by Guerrieri, leaving the Cyan Racing driver to start race one from 11th, whilst Ignacio Montenegro was a World Tour regular who also missed the cut and qualified his Honda in 12th.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 15:00 local time (08:00 CET, 07:00 GMT).
Q2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 107 |  |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 1:44.306 | – | |
| 2 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 1:44.574 | 0.268 | |
| 3 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:44.645 | 0.339 | |
| 4 | 301 |  |
Will BROWN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:44.646 | 0.340 | |
| 5 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 1:44.695 | 0.389 | |
| 6 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 1:44.723 | 0.417 | |
| 7 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:44.910 | 0.604 | |
| 8 | 186 |  |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 1:44.920 | 0.614 | |
| 9 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:44.969 | 0.663 | |
| 10 | 281 |  |
LO Sze Ho | Evolve Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:46.531 | 2.225 |
Q1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 111 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 1:44.251 | – | |
| 2 | 107 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 1:44.446 | 0.195 | |
| 3 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 1:44.512 | 0.261 | |
| 4 | 196 | |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:44.538 | 0.287 | |
| 5 | 301 | |
Will BROWN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:44.553 | 0.302 | |
| 6 | 105 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:44.685 | 0.434 | |
| 7 | 155 | |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 1:44.729 | 0.478 | |
| 8 | 281 | |
LO Sze Ho | Evolve Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:44.812 | 0.561 | |
| 9 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 1:44.899 | 0.648 | |
| 10 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:44.952 | 0.701 | |
| 11 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 1:44.956 | 0.705 | |
| 12 | 123 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 1:45.718 | 1.467 | |
| 13 | 5 | |
Ryan MACMILLAN | HMO Customer Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:45.757 | 1.506 | |
| 14 | 23 |  |
Diego MORAN | DM23 Ecuador Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 1:46.203 | 1.952 | |
| 15 | 217 | |
CHAN Chun Leung | Norris Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 1:46.835 | 2.584 | |
| 16 | 56 |  |
Benny SANTOSO | Z Speed Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:47.068 | 2.817 | |
| 17 | 288 |  |
Sean CHANG Chien Shang | RevX Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 1:47.569 | 3.318 | |
| 18 | 381 |  |
Reinghbert G. DIWA | Eurasia Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:48.251 | 4.000 | |
| 19 | 297 | |
YANG Haojie | Z.SPEED N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:48.297 | 4.046 | |
| 20 | 69 | |
Andy LIANG Wenyao | Eurasia Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 1:48.415 | 4.164 | |
| 21 | 310 | |
WANG Yiming | RevX Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 1:51.722 | 7.471 | |
| 22 | 86 | |
JIANG Nan | Z.SPEED N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | Disallowed | 3.434 |