Yann Ehrlacher claims decisive Adria pole position
Points leader Yann Ehrlacher confirmed his strong form at Adria by claiming pole position in his Lynk & Co 03 TCR by close to two tenths of a second.
The Frenchman will start alongside the Audi of Frédérich Vervisch, with Thed Björk and Gilles Magnus replicating the Lynk & Co – Audi setup on the second row.
Santiago Urrutia will start from the reversed grid pole position in Race 1 after finishing tenth in Q2.
In the first segment of qualifying the Lynk & Cos looked very strong straight out of the pits. Ehrlacher came out comfortably fastest, some three tenths quicker than team-mate Urrutia.
Magnus continued his strong form at Adria in his Comtoyou Audi to claim third ahead of Thed Björk’s Lynk & Co 03 TCR.
Norbert Michelisz was the fastest Hyundai in fifth, ahead Frédéric Vercisch’s Audi and the best-placed Honda of Attila Tassi in seventh. Tom Coronel made a last gasp improvement to finish eighth ahead of Gabriele Tarquini.
The Italian however had an off, reportedly due to a brake issues, and, although he was able to avoid contact with the barriers, was not allowed to take part in Q2.
Yvan Muller, Nestor Girolami and Esteban Guerrieri completed the top 12 and made the first cut for Q2, most remarkably leaving out title contender Jean-Karl Vernay who finished 13th.
Cupra continued their difficult weekend, with Rob Huff going no further than 15th in the fastest of the Spanish cars.
In Q2 Vervisch bounced back to go fastest ahead of Ehrlacher and Björk.
Magnus finished fourth despite an off in the second sector in the last attempt, whereas Yvan Muller completed the top five to progress to Q2. Santiago Urrutia managed to get tenth and therefore on pole position for Race 1, and will line up alongside the Honda of Esteban Guerrieri.
In Q3 Ehrlacher was the second to go out and immediately went fastest at the expense of Vervisch.
Björk mastered the final sector, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Audi driver to the front row, by a mere five thousandths of a second.
Magnus slotted in fourth and Yvan Muller paid the price of a slide at Turn 5 to settle for fifth.
The first race of the weekend starts at 10:15 CET tomorrow.
