Nicky Catsburg tops second qualifying for double pole in Slovakia

Nicky Catsburg remained the man to beat at the Slovakiaring as he topped the times in an action-packed second qualifying session, meaning he will start two of this weekend’s three World Touring Car Cup races from the front of the grid.

The Hyundai driver topped all three segments of qualifying to earn pole, and with it a maximum haul of points from a day that saw both sessions take place due to the revised schedule in place for the weekend; where WTCR shares the bill with Saturday’s eight hour long FIM World Endurance motorcycle race.

The opening phase of the session had proved to be a chaotic affair after a heavy shower prior to the start left mixed circuit conditions for the drivers – and a tough decision over which way to go with tyres.

Whilst a combination of slicks and wets was the way to go at the start, it didn’t take long for the conditions to improve and by the time drivers headed out for their final runs, it was clearly slicks all round.

It ultimately came down to circuit position as to who would make it through to the top twelve, with a number of fancied runners falling by the wayside.

Whilst Catsburg maintained his strong form by leading the way with a best time two seconds down on his best from earlier in the day, there was no place in Q2 for two of the Hynundais, with defending champion Gabriele Tarquini and Augusto Farfus down in 16th and 17th.

Tarquini blamed a wrong call on his tactics which saw him stay out too long on the wrong tyres as the reason for his failure to progress, although the Italian had only been 13th quickest in first qualifying earlier in the day.

Jean-Karl Vernay – who had been quick in practice and was top Audi in the first session – found himself down in 19th place whilst a tough session for Tiago Monteiro resulted in 24th on the grid.

Q1 would be a disaster for Tom Coronel who suffered a puncture on his Cupra and will start dead last on the grid as a result, just behind the VW of Johan Kristoffersson; which ground to a halt late in the session.

With conditions continuing to improve in Q2, it would once again come down to who was on track at the right time, with Catsburg once again on top in his Hyundai as the times came down to the 2:10s, with Esteban Guerrieri, Ma Qing Hua, Daniel Haglof and Norbert Michelisz also making it through to the final phase of qualifying.

Kevin Ceccon just missed out on a place in the shootout with the sixth best time ahead of the lead Audi in the hands of Niel Langeveld; with the former TCR Germany racer being the only Audi driver who would make it past Q1.

Aurelien Panis was eighth ahead of Nestor Girolami, who bailed out of his final lap in the session when it became clear he wasn’t going to make it to the final part of qualifying – instead securing a place on the front row of the grid for the reverse grid second race alongside Rob Huff.

The Briton was one of those to benefit most from the conditions having earlier struggled for pace in the first qualifying session – where was 24th quickest – and it was a similar story for the Lynk & Co of Thed Bjork, which made it through the first part of qualifying and ended up just missing out on the top ten in eleventh.

Unsurprisingly, the drivers to make it through to Q3 would run in reverse order, with Michelisz the first driver to head out on track.

The Hungarian immediately became the first man to break the 2:10s barrier in the session as he set a best time two-tenths slower than he had managed in first qualifying, giving Haglof a target to aim for when he then took to the track in Q3 for the first time.

The PWR driver would lose time across all three sectors however, and crossed the line half a second down on the Hyundai.

Ma’s Alfa Romeo was the third car to take to the track and slotted in behind Michelisz but Guerrieri’s Honda would lack the outright pace to challenge when he then headed out fourth, with the Argentine racer losing time in the first sector that he would be unable to claw back as he ended up setting the slowest time with only Catsburg left to run.

Continuing the strong form he had shown earlier in the day, Catsburg went purple through the first two sectors of the lap and although he was slightly slower than Michelisz through sector three, the Dutch driver duly secured a second pole of the weekend by a tenth of a second.

All three WTCR races will take place in a single day on Sunday.