Photo: WTCR

Rob Huff sails to comfortable pole position at Zandvoort

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Rob Huff has turned the tables on Honda’s dominance in free practice by securing pole position for Race 1 at Zandvoort, setting a new TCR class lap record in the process in his Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.

The Münnich Hondas looked set to repeat their free practice pace early on in the session, with both Esteban Guerrieri and Yann Ehrlacher taking turns at the front of the time sheets, before WRT Audi driver Jean-Karl Vernay quickly emerged as a candidate for pole, going fastest in his RS 3 LMS before ten minutes were up.

The session was then red-flagged when Zsolt Szabo crashed his Cupra TCR out at Turn 8, before it resumed with Guerrieri, then Ehrlacher, then Huff jumping back to the top, with Huff’s time a 1:44.141.

With under ten minutes to go, Ehrlacher struck back and went faster still, before a stunning lap from Huff followed, with the Briton going fastest of all in his Golf, the first driver under 1:44 at the track.

Fellow Briton Gordon Shedden then put his Audi third, outqualifying team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay by just over a tenth of a second, with Benjamin Lessennes going fifth quickest in his Boutsen Ginion Honda.

Nathanaël Berthon was the quickest of the Comtoyou Racing Audi drivers in sixth, with Aurélien Comte in the DG Sport Peugeot 308TCR seventh fastest.

Tom Coronel bounced back after earlier struggles to qualify eighth in his Boutsen Ginion Honda, with Comtoyou Audi’s Frédéric Vervisch ninth and the Münnich Honda of Esteban Guerrieri completing the top ten.

Notably absent from the top ten were the Hyundais, with Norbert Michelisz their top qualifier in 14th, eight-tenths off the pace, but the Hungarian is carrying a five-place grid penalty after an incident with Huff last weekn in Germany which will put him one spot behind Thed Björk for the start in 19th.

Championship leader Yvan Muller qualified in 21st, and early points leader Gabriele Tarquini down in 24th, 1.6 seconds slower than Huff.

The first race is scheduled for 16:20 CET.