Michelisz pips Azcona to TCR World Tour pole at Vallelunga
TCR World Tour leader Norbert Michelisz claimed pole position for the third round at Vallelunga, which is doubling up as the TCR Italian Festival.
The qualifying format from TCR Europe was used, with all drivers competing in the 20-minute first segment and then the 12 fastest progressing to the 10-minute long second segment to determine who would start on Race 1 pole.
BRC Racing’s Mikel Azcona was fastest after 10 minutes of action in Q1, setting a 1:40.927 to lead Comtoyou Racing’s John Filippi by 0.103 seconds.
Jumping from tenth to first not long after that was ALM Motorsport’s Nestor Girolami, then Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia went 0.278s faster to put himself in first place while Azcona improved in third and his team-mate Michelisz rose to fourth.
Few drivers were able to set personal bests after that, although Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk went second fastest with four minutes to go and Comtoyou pair Filippi and Frédéric Vervisch moved into fifth and sixth on the timesheet.
Q1 ended with Michelisz on top by 0.177s over Urrutia, with the benchmark laptime being set with 95s left on the clock. Crucially making it into the top 12 were Cyan Racing’s Ma Qing Hua and the debuting Aurélien Comte, who was giving Cupra’s Leon Competición TCR its first World Tour outing.
The action in Q2 was condensed towards the end, and it was Michelisz who led with a 1:40.672 lap going into the final four minutes. Björk was just 0.021s slower, and Urrutia only 0.088s behind in third.
The next improvement came just before the chequered flag, with Vervisch going fifth fastest and crucially having time to do one more lap.
Vervisch’s laptime had shuffled team-mate Rob Huff to sixth, but he then improved to reclaim his position once the session had ended. However the improving track conditions meant there was even more pace to be found for those running behind him, and Vervisch shot to the top with a 1:40.516.
Björk bettered that by 0.11s, and over a minute after the chequered flag waved the pair of them were shuffled down to third and fourth as BRC Racing’s duo crossed the line. Michelisz set a 1:40.351 to claim pole, and Azcona was just 0.015s slower to secure second place.
Urrutia and Huff ended up fifth and sixth, with Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher and Girolami split by 0.007s in seventh and eighth.
Lynk & Co driver Ma will start from the reversed grid pole in race two after securing tenth in qualifying, with Audi driver Filippi joining him on the front row after finishing ninth.
The first race of the weekend starts at 11:15 CEST on Sunday.
