Photo: TCR Europe

Marco Butti storms to TCR Europe pole at Hockenheim

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MM Motorsport’s Marco Butti claimed pole position for the opening TCR Europe race of the weekend at Hockenheim, as series points leader Teddy Clairet failed to make it into the second part of qualifying.

In his Honda Civic Type-R, Butti set a best time of 1m47.886 in a slightly anti-climactic Q2, in which all the times had been set during the first runs, to beat compatriot Nicola Baldan by just over two-tenths of a second.

Target’s Max Hart was third quickest, just a fraction behind in his Hyundai Elantra N TCR, while Auto Club RC2 Valles’ Felipe Fernandez bagged race two pole position with the 10th quickest time in Q2.

But the big news was the fall of championship leader Teddy Clairet in Q1; the Frenchman failed to impress in his Audi RS 3 LMS and will start 14th for both of this weekend’s races.

Having set the pace in Q1, Felice Jelmini did not set a representative time in the second session, leaving the PMA Motorsport Hyundai driver 12th and missing out on reversed grid pole.

The Italian had been the benchmark in a tight session, in which he headed Jimmy Clairet by a mere 0.037s.

Both Fernandez and Butti also showed strong pace in the opening session, ending up four-hundredths apart as they progressed to Q2.

ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt was the first to set a proper time during the opening session, his 1m47.987 was soon beaten by Butti’s first effort with both surpassed by Jelmini approaching half-distance.

While Jimmy Clairet was on the pace, his brother Teddy struggled all session and was only as high as 10th throughout. He languished in 14th and never looked like making the top 12 to make it into Q2.

Fourth quickest in Q1, Butti came out of the blocks fast in Q2, setting his best time early on, seemingly without reply from the rest of the field. Neither Baldan nor Hart could improve in the closing stages, leaving the top three unchanged.

Behind Hart, Junui Park will start fourth with Eric Gené the best of the Cupra León Competicións in fifth.

Nicolas Taylor will start seventh ahead of Viktor Andersson, who just scraped into Q2 in 12th, while Volt could only manage eighth.

In contrast to his brother’s misfortune, Jimmy Clairet was ninth – and therefore on the reversed grid front-row alongside polesitter Fernandez.

Race one at Hockenheim is scheduled to start later today at 12:20 CEST.