Luca Engstler leads Engstler 1-2-3 in qualifying at Sepang
Luca Engstler led an Engstler Motorsport 1-2-3 in qualifying at the Sepang International Circuit, topping the time sheets in the second segment of qualifying, though was just 15-thousandths of a second faster than new team-mate Mitchell Cheah.
The Engstler Volkswagen trio had also led the first qualifying segment, with Ecuadorian driver Diego Moran ahead of Cheah, with Engstler third fastest.
Engstler took no time in setting the benchmark in Q2, with just enough time for two laps in Q2 around the 5.5km circuit.
The TCR Middle East champion’s time was a 2:15.882, and he led Moran and Cheah, but Cheah was even faster on his second lap, closing to 0.015 seconds of Engstler’s time which promoted him to the second row of the grid.
Maximum Racing’s Lo Ho was the best of the rest, with the Hong Kong driver placing his Honda Civic TCR in fourth position, nearly seven-tenths of a second down.
The two R Engineering Honda Civics followed with their two Malaysian drivers, with Akash Nandy ahead of Abdul Kaathir.
The rest of the top ten was an all Thai affair, with Chariya Nuya in the Billionaire Boys Racing Honda seventh fastest ahead of Pattarapol Vongprai’s Vattana Honda, Jakraphan Davee’s Alphafactory SEAT León and Nattanid Leewattanavaragul’s Morin Racing SEAT completing the top ten, with Leewattanavaragul securing pole position for the reversed grid second race.
The first race of the weekend is scheduled for 10:05 MYT (04:05 CET) on Sunday.
