Mat’o Homola claims close Barcelona pole position ahead of Mike Halder
BRC Racing Team’s Mat’o Homola scored his first TCR Europe series pole position of the year in qualifying at Barcelona ahead of Team Halder’s Mike Halder. A mere 0.024 seconds separated the two.
Overcast skies and warm temperatures welcomed the TCR Europe field at Barcelona for the qualifying session.
Championship leader Dan Lloyd was unable to get through to Q2 and finished 13th, blaming the 60kg compensation weight in his Honda for the lack of performance.
Halder was the first pace setter at the start of the Q2 session, with Homola quickly rising to the top after his first attempt. The majority of drivers settled for one attempt.
Homola claimed pole with a lap time of 1:54.292, 0.024 seconds ahead of Halder. Daniel Nagy and Peper Oriola will share the second row of the grid, 0.128 and 0.187 seconds from pole respectively.
Former WTCR driver Mehdi Bennani settled in fifth place, with Sami Taoufik sharing the third row of the grid, 0.230 seconds off the pace. Nicolas Baert qualified in seventh place, followed by Hyundai driver John Filippi.
Siblings Jessica and Andreas Bäckman will share the fifth row on the grid, with the latter claiming the pole position for Race 2 under the reverse grid rules.
Homola said after the session: “We have improved a lot and I can now put into practice my driving style because, compared to the tests we did here, the track is completely different. I’m very happy with the result.”
The start of Race 1 is scheduled for 16:05 CEST on Saturday.
