Monlau Motorsport’s Jenson Brickley will start from his best qualifying position to-date in TCR Europe, after putting his CUPRA Leon VZ TCR third on the grid in a tough qualifying session in 30+ degree heat on Saturday morning.

The British driver had to abort his first run due to a track limits violation, but the first flying lap on his second run was good enough to put him in third, splitting the Hondas of Jacopo Cimenes and Santiago Concepción for the evening’s first race.

“I made it a bit hard for myself by messing up my first lap in Q2 when I went off track at Turn 5,” said Brickley. “I boxed and put on a new set straight away; my first lap was good, but the tyres just went off a bit on my second lap. I’m happy with P3, I’ve finally had a good qualifying session in TCR Europe, and it’s all to play for.”

Brickley was the best-placed of the first-timers at Misano, in a grid where many drivers have experience of the circuit both in previous seasons and earlier this year, primarily from the TCR Italy championship.

“There’s a couple of guys who’ve raced here already who are quite far behind me, so that shows the training is working. I’m looking forward to the evening race, and the less heat,” he added.