Giacomo Altoè secures Abu Dhabi pole

Giacomo Altoè will start the opening round of the new TCR Middle East season from pole position after leading the way in qualifying at Yas Marina.

Altoè posted a best time of 1min 14.569secs at the wheel of his Pit Lane Competizioni Audi RS 3 LMS, which allowed the teenager to beat Luca Engstler to top spot by a tenth of a second.

That was despite the fact that Altoè’s best lap was some three-tenths of a second slower than he managed in topping FP1 earlier in the day.

“I’m over the moon,” he said. “We have been able to show the great potential of our car. Everything worked perfectly and it was a great result, for the team and for myself. We have worked very well in setting up the car and this paid off as my pole position time was very impressive.”

Engstler had headed FP2 in his Volkswagen Golf but despite going three-tenths quicker in qualifying, he had to settle for second spot after admitting to a mistake on what looked set to be his best time of the session.

“It was really close,” he reflected. “The team has done a very good job and I was confident I could set pole position myself. Unfortunately I made a small mistake in my fastest lap, otherwise I could have beaten Giacomo. But I’m very happy with the car and tomorrow I want to win the first race.”

TCR International Series race winner Mat’o Homola and Swiss driver Florian Thoma fill the second row of the grid, with Kai Jordan in fifth being the last driver to lap within half a second of pole. Jordi Oriola completed the top six.

With the top ten on the grid being reversed for race two, Greek racer Costas Papantonis – the only driver in the field not to competing in either an Audi or a VW – will start from pole; some consolation for a suspension issue that limited his running during the session.