Néstor Girolami takes last gasp Macau pole position
Hyundai driver Néstor Girolami claimed the last pole position of the 2025 FIA TCR World Tour season at the Guia circuit in Macau ahead of title contenders Yann Ehrlacher and Thed Björk of Lynk & Co Cyan Racing.
Sunny and hot conditions welcomed the FIA TCR World Tour field for Friday’s qualifying, with the Lynk & Co and the Hyundai drivers battling for the top spot from the start of the session.
Santiago Urrutia had an overnight engine change done to his Lynk & Co, so the Uruguayan will start from the back of the grid in the first race.
Esteban Guerrieri (Honda) missed the braking point at Lisboa seven minutes into the session, causing a temporary yellow flag, but was able to quickly recover.
The Q1 session was red flagged with 13 minutes to go as Ryan MacMillan (Hyundai) went wide at Mandarin, hitting the barriers and stopped on the track.
Girolami went straight at Lisboa on his first flying lap as Q1 resumed.
Azcona, Michelisz, Ehrlacher, Urrutia, Björk, Girolami, Ma Qing Hua, Guerrieri, Josh Buchan (Hyundai), Ignacio Montenegro (Honda), Max Hart (Cupra) and Lo Sze Ho (Hyundai) went through to Q2.
Aurélien Comte (Cupra) and Pepe Oriola (Honda) went for a last flying lap but were unable to improve, with the Spaniard grazing the barriers and losing his left wing mirror. The duo and will start both races from P13 and P14 respectively.
Qualifying 2
Ehrlacher and Björk were the first to set lap times in the Q2, claiming positions one and two.
Azcona was setting purple sectors on his first attempt, but had to abort his lap after grazing the barriers and damaging his rear right end. The Spaniard came into the pits for quick repairs and headed back out for a final attempt.
Azcona completed his first flying lap to climb up to seventh at the same time as GOAT Racing driver Montenegro improved to fourth.
Girolami set a fastest lap time of 2:28.640 on his last attempt, relegating Ehrlacher to second as the Frenchman opted to not set a second lap time.
Ehrlacher’s title rival Björk finished third, close to four tenths slower than his team-mate.
Michelisz qualified in fourth place, seven-tenths off the pace, followed by Montenegro and Guerrieri. Azcona finished in seventh place, with Urrutia right behind in eighth. Urrutia will drop down to start the race from the back of the grid due to his engine change.
Ma Qing Hua qualified in ninth position while Josh Buchan claimed tenth and the reversed grid pole position.
The TCR field returns to the track on Saturday afternoon at 13:20 local time (06:20 CET) for Race 1.
