Photo: TCR Germany

Mitchell Cheah on pole for opening Red Bull Ring race

Hyundai Team Engstler’s Mitchell Cheah claimed pole position for the opening TCR Germany championship race of the weekend at the Red Bull Ring, beating Antti Buri by just over a tenth of a second.

The Malaysian set a time of 1:37.940 in the second segment of qualifying, while championship leader Dominik Fugel only managed eighth on the grid.

Fugel does however start third for the reversed-grid second race of the weekend, with brother Marcel on pole.

HP Racing International’s Jan Seyffert was the first driver to set a representative time in Q1, with a 1:39.222, which was just over a tenth of a second quicker than René Kircher.

Dominik Fugel then went quickest in his ADAC Team Sachsen Honda Civic Type-R TCR, before ceding the top spot to reigning champion Harald Proczyk’s Hyundai i30 N TCR.

Newcomer Sandro Soubek then improved to second ahead of Fugel and behind Proczyk.

After a tricky time at the Sachsenring in qualifying, Buri (Team Engstler Hyundai) was closer to the top of the times in his i30 N TCR, going quickest with a 1:38.249.

Patrick Simon then ended the opening segment quickest, going nearly two-tenths faster than Buri.

The shorter Q2 session started with Buri initially setting the fastest time before being usurped by Cheah, whose 1:37.582 was unbeaten for the remainder of the session.

Buri will start second ahead of Proczyk, who ended up three-tenths of a second adrift of Cheah by the end.

Simon will start fourth, with Soubek and Kircher next up.

Seyffert finished seventh and will start just ahead of Dominik Fugel, while Dziugas Tovilavicius is ninth.

Race 1 at the Red Bull Ring is scheduled to start at 17:15 CET.