Gianni Morbidelli leads Honda 1-2 in Austria

Gianni Morbidelli dominated the second segment of Qualifying to take pole position for tomorrow’s first race in Spielberg, Austria. The Italian came home ahead of team-mate Kevin Gleason, with Daniel Nagy a surprising third in his Zengo Motorsport SEAT León Racer.

In Q1 Stefano Comini was first ahead of Target Competition team-mate Andrea Belicchi, Morbidelli, Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Mikhail Grachev and Jordi Gené for Craft-Bamboo Lukoil, as Target Competition’s Michela Cerruti and Gabriele Marotta were excluded along with Diego Romanini, whose Ford Focus ST stopped on the finish line in the dying minutes of the session due to mechanical issues.

In Q2 Pepe Oriola led for the first few minutes until Gianni Morbidelli clocked three laps, each of which which would have been enough for pole position, emerging as the only driver able to lap under the 1:40′ barrier. Kevin Gleason jumped up to second later on, a full six tenths behind his team-mate, with Daniel Nagy amazingly lapping faster than any other SEAT to claim third.

Stefano Comini claimed fourth ahead of Sergey Afanasyev, who led home Craft-Bamboo Lukoil team-mate Pepe Oriola. Andrea Belicchi finished seventh ahead of Jordi Gené, with Mikhail Grachev and Pol Rosell unexpectedly unable to match their Free Practice 2 performances, although the two will start the second race from the front row with the Spaniard on pole position.

Race 1 will start at 8.30 local time.