The Halder Motorsport Honda Civic Type R of Jack Young was fastest in both stages of Qualifying at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya and will start Race 1 from pole position, but fourth place in Q2 was enough to secure the 2022 TCR Europe Drivers’ title for Franco Girolami in the Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS. With 80 points available from the season’s two final races, Girolami cannot now be caught as he is 89 points ahead of Josh Files, his only challenger coming into the Barcelona event.

Early morning fog blanketing the circuit caused the planned timetable to be delayed, with the first stage of Qualifying starting 55 minutes late. Once Q1 got underway, the first competitive lap time (1:56.772) was set by John Filippi, with TCR Europe debutant Samuel Sládečka six-tenths slower (1:57.399). One lap later, Jáchym Galáš went fastest with a lap of 1:55.856 ahead of the two RC2 Junior Team cars of Rubén (1:56.006) and Felipe (1:56.359) Fernandez.

With a little over twelve minutes of the twenty-minute session gone, Tom Coronel (1:54.612) and then Josh Files (1:54.377) took turns in going fastest before Jack Young went quickest with a lap of 1:53.942 and his Halder Motorsport teammate Mike Halder went P3 ahead of Coronel with a 1:54.596. Championship leader Girolami was P5 at that point with a best lap of 1:54.762 while Young improved his time on the next lap with a 1:53.809.

With less than five minutes of Q1 remaining, Coronel improved to P2 with a lap of 1:54.226 and Girolami went P4 with a 1:54.440. Isidro Callejas then went fifth fastest (1:54.591) and Young improved his best lap time yet again with a 1:53.484. Both Alejandro Geppert and Marco Butti pulled up, but both were clear of the track and so no yellow flags were needed.

Going through to Q2 were Young, Coronel, Files, Girolami, Callejas, Mike Halder, Pepe Oriola, John Filippi, Frederic Vervisch, Jáchym Galáš, Nicola Baldan and Michelle Halder. The gap between Girolami and Files in the Drivers’ standings was now 88 points with a possible 90 points still on offer, but Files would now have to be fastest in Q2 and win both races with Girolami failing to score any more points for the British driver to win the title. Having changed his Hyundai’s engine before the weekend, however, Files knew that no matter where he qualified, he would have to start Race 1 from the back of the grid and so the likelihood of him taking the Drivers’ title was now almost zero.

In the second stage of Qualifying, it was Young who set the first competitive lap time (1:53.909) ahead of Coronel (1:54.311), Callejas (1:54.520) and Files (1:54.663). Girolami’s first flying lap time was 1:58.358, the slowest of the twelve drivers in Q2, but after a quick stop for tyres, the Argentinian driver went back out and set a time of 1:54.523 to go P4, ahead of Files who was clearly content with his time and already out of his car. By outscoring his only remaining rival, Girolami secured the 2022 Drivers’ title before the first of the weekend’s races; with an advantage of 89 points and only 80 available from the two races, the Comtoyou Racing driver cannot now be caught.

Jack Young will therefore start Race 1 from pole position ahead of Coronel, with Callejas and Girolami on Row 2. Thanks to the reversed grid, John Filippi will start Race 2 from pole alongside Pepe Oriola after the Sébastien Loeb Racing – Bardahl Team CUPRA Leon Competición ended Q2 in tenth position.

Qualifying result

1.     Jack Young (Halder Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R)   1:53.909

2.     Tom Coronel (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)   +0.402

3.     Isidro Callejas (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición)   +0.611

4.     Franco Girolami (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)   )  +0.614

5.     Josh Files (Target Competition, Hyundai Elantra N)   +0.754

6.     Frédéric Vervisch (Comtoyou Team Audi Sport, Audi RS 3 LMS)   +0.994

Championship points

1. Girolami 361 pts; 2. Files 272 pts; 3. Gavrilov 249 pts; 4. Coronel 246 pts; 5. Callejas 230 pts.

Because of the earlier delay caused by the fog, Race 1 is now scheduled to start at 14.20 CEST this afternoon and will be streamed live on TCR TV and the series’ social media platforms.

Race 1 live stream - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-JStegigjM