Photo: TCR Media

Norbert Michelisz takes last gasp Vallelunga pole position

By

Norbert Michelisz managed a lap worthy of pole position right at the end of the first 2024 FIA TCR World Tour qualifying session at Vallelunga.

The Hyundai driver will start alongside Lynk & Co’s Yann Ehrlacher, while Esteban Guerrieri makes it three manufacturers in the top three for Honda.

The Hyundais ran in formation for the first part of qualifying, Michelisz leading the trio and setting the fastest lap initially, as the BRC cars found Jacopo Cimenes’ Honda Civic during the first lap.

As the session went on, it was Ehrlacher who jumped to the top, ahead of Marco Butti and John Filippi. Traffic appeared to be an issue for several drivers.

When Guerrieri set his lap time with ten minutes to go, it remained untouched for most of the session until Ehrlacher managed to beat his lap by three hundredths of a second. The Hyundais of Michelisz and Azcona were fifth and sixth respectively in Q1, ahead of Thed Björk, Santiago Urrutia, Ma Qing Hua and Sami Taoufik. Néstor Girolami and Jacopo Cimenes were also through to Q2.

In the second leg of qualifying, Girolami gave Azcona and Michelisz a tow, but that wasn’t enough for the Spaniard to beat Ehrlacher.

Björk was third after the initial runs ahead of Michelisz and Ma. With just four minutes to go, Butti improved to fourth, while Filippi, who had been on an excellent lap to potentially grab the front row, had a difficult third sector and only managed sixth.

Come the final runs, Guerrieri narrowly missed out on improving on Ehrlacher’s pole lap.

As everything else looked set in stone, Norbert Michelisz managed a banzai last-minute lap which was enough for pole position.

Ehrlacher’s improvement was not sufficient, the Frenchman ending up two tenths adrift in second plce, with Guerrieri in third ahead of Azcona.

Björk was fifth for Lynk & Co Cyan Racing ahead of Butti’s Hona Civic.

Ma Qing Hua will share the fourth row with Filippi, who didn’t deliver on the promise of a shock performance in Q2, ahead of an all-South American fifth row, with Urrutia ahead of reversed grid pole-sitter Girolami in his Hyundai.

The first race of the weekend starts at 17:15 CEST.