Jimmy Clairet claimed his first pole position in the TCR Europe series, leading the way in a close qualifying session for the opening round of the season in Portugal, with the top three cars covered by less than a tenth of a second.

Clairet’s time of 1:50.798 was enough to depose the early pace-setter Felice Jelmini in Q2, which means a pair of Audis will start from the front row of the grid.

Less than a tenth behind Clairet was Eric Gené, with the 18-year-old Spaniard the best-placed of the young driver trophy competitors as well in his Monlau Motorsport CUPRA Leon VZ TCR.

Marco Butti, who broke the qualifying lap record in Q1 with a time of 1:50.671, wasn’t quite able to get the same time out of his MM Motorsport Honda in Q2 and would qualify in fourth place, with Felipe Fernández the top Diamond Best Trophy drivers in fifth in his RC2 Racing Team Honda.

Junui Park was able to set the seventh quickest time and was the best-placed of the six Hyundais in qualifying, with the MA:GP Lynk & Co of Viktor Andersson eighth, that means all five manufacturers are represented in the top eight.

Max Hart qualified in tenth in his Target Competition Hyundai and will therefore start Race 2 from pole position, just ahead of British driver Jenson Brickley’s Monlau CUPRA.

Ruben Volt was the first big name to fall in Q1, the four-time pole-sitter missing out after a last-minute improvement from Korean driver Junui Park, who put his Solite Indigo Racing Hyundai in the top 12 in his first qualifying session in the series.

Also not making Q2 was reigning TCR Italy champion Nic Taylor, with the Canadian qualifying his PMA Motorsport Audi in 15th, just ahead of another former Italian series champion, with Nicola Baldan 16th in the AIKOA Racing Audi.

The first race of the season gets underway at 13:45 CEST, and will be live on YouTube at www.youtube.com/@TCRTV