Yvan Muller snatches last-gasp Race 1 pole
Yvan Muller established a new WTCR qualifying record with a stunning final lap to snatch pole position for the opening race of the World Touring Car Cup round in Macau.
The Cyan Racing Lynk & Co driver left it until the final seconds of an exciting first qualifying session to perform a record-breaking 2:28.661 lap, toppling BRC Hyundai’s Norbert Michelisz by a mere 0.068s.
With Michelisz earning four bonus points for second place, the Hungarian has now closed the gap to championship leader Esteban Guerrieri – who could only manage 13th – to just two points.
While both Muller and Michelisz could benefit from decisive tows from team-mates down Macau’s long main straight, third-placed Andy Priaulx performed well to lap just a tenth slower despite going on his own.
With Muller fastest, Priaulx third, Yann Ehrlacher fifth and Thed Björk sixth, it was a good session overall for Cyan Racing, with Ehrlacher in particular earning praise from his uncle Muller after the session having missed two runs due to time-consuming wheel nut issues.
Kevin Ceccon was a late improver to qualify an impressive fourth in Team Mulsanne’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR, less than two tenths from pole.
Thursday practice pace-setter Rob Huff had an off at Lisboa at one point and never seemed able to quite join the pole scrap, eventually taking seventh – almost eight tenths back – in the lead Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.
P8 went to reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini, who also went off at Lisboa (on his first flying lap), while SLR VW’s Benjamin Leuchter just edged Mikel Azcona’s PWR Racing Cupra in the battle among the Macau first-timers.
Honda’s issues continued at the Guia street track, meanwhile, with Guerrieri the leading Civic Type R TCR in 13th, 1.172s down on Muller’s benchmark.
There was one red flag in the session, triggered when Mehdi Bennani went nose first into the barriers at Police with twelve minutes remaining. Stuck at one of the narrowest parts of the track, Bennani caused a traffic jam before eventually getting going again with significant damage to the front left of his SLR Volkswagen.
Two separate incidents also took place at the Melco hairpin, with Terence Tse crashing out and Jean-Karl Vernay veering suspiciously into the barriers in a problematic session for the 2018 Macau race winner.
Only 28 of the 32 cars entered look set to be allowed to start Race 1. Wild cards James Tang, Kwai Wah Wong and Tse all failed to stay below the required 105% of the fastest qualifying time, while Arthur Law did not take part in the session.
Next up today is Qualifying 2, which will shape the grids for races two and three of the weekend, at 13:35 local time / 06:35 CET.
