TCR Germany point leader Josh Files moved another step closer to becoming the series’ first-ever champion by setting pole position at Hockenheim at the end of a Qualifying session that was cut short because of a major crash involving Jordi Oriola.
The Spanish driver was trying to improve his lap time in the final moments of Q1 when he lost control of his car and hit the barrier at high speed. Oriola was taken to hospital for medical checks but later discharged. “It was one of the worst accidents I have had, but I feel good,” said Oriola who has since been cleared to race. Unfortunately his car was damaged beyond repairs.
As a result of Oriola’s incident, the Q2 segment was cancelled and the Qualifying final results were based on Q1.
The session was run on a wet track that was drying up. Eventually the Target Competition Honda Civic cars of Files (1:49.275) and series’ newcomer Dennis Strandberg (1:49.639) posted the two fastest lap times and will share the front row of the grid for Race 1.
Steve Kirsch of Honda Team ADAC completed a trio of Honda Civic cars on top of the time-sheet posting the third fastest lap (1:50.123) ahead of the HP Racing SEAT León of Harald Proczyk (1:50.289) who is the only driver with a theoretical chance of beating Files in the title fight, albeit he has to fill a gap of 44.5 points when only 50 are still available.
As far as the TCR Trophy Europe is concerned, point-leader Pierre-Yves Corthals qualified his DG Sport Compétition Opel Astra in eighth position (1:50.420), while his only rival, LMS Racing’s Antti Buri, posted the 13^th fastest lap (1:50.974).
The first race will start on Saturday at 14:45 CET (live streaming on www.tcr-series.tv).