In only his second TCR Europe Qualifying session, Sweden’s Viktor Andersson set the fastest lap time around the Pau Ville street circuit in his MA:GP Lynk & Co 03 and so will start this evening’s Race 1 from pole position. Alongside Andersson on the grid will be the Target Competition Hyundai Elantra N of Dušan Borković while a tactical decision by Tom Coronel to aim for the tenth fastest lap time means he will start tomorrow’s Race 2 from pole in his Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS.

The twenty-minute first stage of Qualifying effectively gave the drivers and teams another chance to finalise set-ups ahead of the decisive second stage, with the morning overcast but dry. It was Dušan Borković who set the first competitive lap time with a 1:24.277 ahead of Lewis Brown (1:25.658) and Isaac Smith (1:25.841) in the two Volcano Motorsport Audi RS 3 LMS cars. Borković and Smith then improved their times on the next lap with a 1:23.247 and a 1:24.620 before Kobe Pauwels (Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS) split the pair with a lap of 1:24.259.

Just after the session’s halfway point, Eric Cayrolle went second fastest with a time of 1:24.145 before Smith improved with a 1:22.903 to go P1 and Viktor Davidovski went P4 with a 1:23.833 ahead of Viktor Andersson’s Lynk & Co 03 (1:24.074). Andersson then improved to go P2 (1:23.161) while Cayrolle also improved his best lap with a 1:23.436 to sit in P4 behind Borković.

With around five minutes remaining, Smith and Pauwels both improved with a 1:22.853 and a 1:23.038 but Borković briefly went fastest with a lap of 1:22.834 before being eclipsed by Pauwels (1:22.805). On the next lap, the Serbian driver edged ahead again with a lap of 1:22.681, with Pauwels improving (1:22.691) but remaining in P2. Lewis Brown went P5 behind Andersson with around thirty seconds remaining (1:23.383) while Borković again improved his best lap with a 1:22.523. After the chequered flag fell, Davidovski improved to P4 (1:23.809)

The CUPRA of Olivier López didn't take part in Qualifying and will start both races from the back of the grid. All of the eleven remaining cars went through to Q2, with the CUPRA shared by Julien Nougaret and Dorian Duthil to be driven in Q2 by Nougaret thanks to his faster lap during Q1. As a taster of what was to come, Tom Coronel was around four seconds off the fastest time in P10.

In the ten-minute sprint of Q2, the first driver to manage a flying lap was Davidovski with a 1:25.661, with Andersson (1:1:24.510), Brown (1:24.184), Smith (1:23.938) and finally Cayrolle (1:23.577) all going quicker than the Macedonian driver. John Filippi then lapped in 1:23.109 to go P1 with Davidovski improving with a 1:23.503. Andersson (1:22.034), Smith (1:22.547), Pauwels (1:22.781), Cayrolle (1:22.881) and Borković (1:22.497) then all beat the 1:23 barrier within a minute or so of each other before Pauwels and Borković both improved on their best laps, although neither was able to beat Andersson’s time.

With around a minute of the session remaining, Andersson set a stunning lap of 1:21.782 to firmly stake his claim on pole position for Race 1. Borković was second fastest with a lap of 1:22.157 and Pauwels third (1:22.396) ahead of the two Volcano Motorsport cars of Smith (1:22.547) and Brown (1:22.743). Coronel was again tenth quickest (1:26.611) and so will start Race 2 from pole with Julien Nougaret (1:25.969) alongside.

Qualifying Result

1. Viktor Andersson (MA:GP, Lynk & Co 03)  1:21.782

2. Dušan Borković (Target Competition, Hyundai Elantra N)  1:22.157

3. Kobe Pauwels (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)  1:22.396

4. Isaac Smith (Volcano Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)  1:22.547

5. Lewis Brown (Volcano Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)  1:22.743

TCR Europe Championship points

1. John Filippi 80pts; 2. Tom Coronel 80pts; 3. Isaac Smith 49pts; 4. Kobe Pauwels 47pts; 5. Rubén Fernández 41pts.

Race 1 is scheduled to start at 18.10 CEST with Race 2 at 14.22 tomorrow. Both races will be streamed live on tcr-series.tv