Luca Engstler tops first Touring Car Cup qualifying
Luca Engstler will start the opening Touring Car Cup race of the weekend at Vallelunga from pole position after topping the times in first qualifying ahead of the new FIA Motorsport Games.
Overnight rain provided drivers with difficult sessions on track for the early morning session, a fact that was shown by the fact that Gilles Magnus slid off the circuit on his out lap at the wheel of the Team Belgium Audi RS 3 LMS.
Engstler was the early pace-setter in his Hyundai i30 N TCR, although lap times were more than 16 seconds off the pace set by Mat’o Homola in Friday’s sessions.
Making the most of the tricky conditions, the MG of Rory Butcher slotted into second place having been off the pace on Friday with Tom Coronel’s Honda sitting in third place.
As Engstler became the first driver to return to the pits, most of his rivals elected to stay out to turn further laps as the circuit started to dry out, with Russian driver Klim Gavrilov moving up into second spot; albeit still two tenths of a second off the Hyundai drivers time.
With ten minutes in the book , Engstler held provisional pole Gavrilov, Butcher and Coronel, with a number of drivers who had shown strong pace on Friday being down the order; the likes of Sweden’s Jessica Bäckman, New Zealander Faine Kahia and Spaniard Gonzalo De Andrés finding themselves outside the top ten.
Heading into the final ten minutes, the circuit didn’t seem to be drying as much as anticipated, with standing water in the final sector in particular creating a challenge for drivers.
Despite that, Homolo improved into third place in his Hyundai whilst Jim Ka To was also showing strong pace for Hong Kong, putting his Honda Civic Type R TCR into seventh.
Ka To however was carrying an engine change penalty into the session that will mean he starts the opening race of the weekend from the back of the grid.
Going into the closing two minutes, Ka To improved into fourth place in his Honda but the positions inside the top ten would remain largely static with Engstler securing pole by virtue of his early lap time of 1:56.941.
That was despite the fact that the German driver was unable to complete the session, with his Hyundai coming to a halt on the circuit and leaving him with half the number of laps of the chasing pack behind.
Gavrilov’s Audi would end up second quickest from Homolo, with Ka To left to wonder what might have been without his engine change after he posted the fourth quickest time.
Butcher was fifth quickest in the first of the MGs, with Tom Coronel behind in sixth, with the top ten completed by John Filippi’s Cupra, Magnus’ Audi, Dušan Kouřil’s Hyundai and the Audi of Latvian racer Valters Zviedris.
Ka To’s penalty means Norbert Kiss will start inside the top ten in the Team Hungary Alfa Romeo.
Race one is scheduled to take place at 13:15 local time but before then, Q2 at 10:45 will determine the grid for Sunday’s second race.
