Norbert Nagy takes first ETCC pole in disrupted Portugal qualifying

Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Nagy has taken pole position for the fourth round of the European Touring Car Cup at Vila Real in a session which was stopped twice for crashes, involving both the Lema Racing SEATs of Igor Stefanovsky and Fabio Mota.

Stefanovsky brought out the red flag after just five minutes and damaged the barriers, causing a long delay before the session could be resumed while repairs took place.

When the session resumed, Mota, who has been fast throughout practice all weekend, immediately set the fastest lap before crashing out at Turn 21 on his second run, bringing out the red flags again and a delay as his car was moved and oil cleaned from the circuit.

The session resumed with under 15 minutes to go, with Manual Pedro Fernandes first setting the fastest time in his SEAT León TCR, before he was quickly outpaced by Norbert Nagy in the Zengő SEAT León Cup Racer.

Nagy’s time of 2:05.013 stood to the end, though Fernandes had one last run where he set the best first sector, but was unable to improve on Nagy’s overall time and had to settle for second.

Krenek Motorsport driver Petr Fulín moved up to third on his final lap displacing local driver Mota to fourth, with Peter Rikli the best of the Hondas in fifth.

Niklas Mackschin claimed pole position in the Super 1600 class in the Ravenol Team Ford Fiesta ahead of Kevin Hilgenhovel’s Peugeot 207 Sport.

The first race is due to take place at 10:20 WEST on Sunday.